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THE 


WRITERS  OF  GENESIS 


AND  RELATED  TOPICS,  ILLUSTRATING 
DIVINE  REVELATION. 


/BY 

Rev.  E.  COWLEY,  D.D., 

AUTHOR    OF     "bible     GROWTH     AND     RELIGION,"     "  GOD     IN     CREATION,"     AND 
"  GOD    ENTHRONED    IN    REDEMPTION." 


'  God  spake  unto  Noah,  and  to  his  sons,  and  to  Abraham,  this  covenant. 


NEW  YORK : 
THOMAS     WHITTAKER, 

2  AND  3  Bible  House. 
1890. 


Copyright,  1890,  bt 
THE  AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


"When  abroad,  in  1872, 1  read  in  tlie  Daily  Tele- 
graph Mr.  George  Smith's  Chaldean  Account  of 
the  Creation,  which  he  had  just  deciphered.  Pre- 
vious knowledge  of  Layard's  discoveries  enabled  me 
to  estimate  their  importance,  and  to  continue  the 
study  of  Oriental  discoveries.  So,  in  1879,  I  ven- 
tured to  give  a  brief  series  of  sermons  on  the  Re- 
ligion and  Learning  of  Egypt  in  the  era  of  Moses, 
in  the  Church  of  the  Heavenly  Rest,  J^ew  York. 

A  few  years  later,  Mr.  Spencer,  in  his  "  Ecclesi- 
astical Institutions,"  struck  off  the  roots  of  the 
Divine  in  Religion.  As  no  one  else  appeared  to 
answer  him,  I  felt  bound  (God  being  my  helper)  to 
examine  and  refute  him,  or  yield  to  the  inevitable. 

In  some  other  papers  I  have  ventured  to  defend 
the  Revelation  of  the  Old  Testament  against  the 
gross  naturalism  of  Renan  and  the  negative  criticism 
of  Kuenen  and  Wellhausen.  Thus  I  have  traversed 
some  crucial  points  from  Genesis  to  the  Prophecies 
of  our  Lord. 

This  may  best  explain  why  I  presume  to  add  to 
what  has  been  so  ably — in  some  instances  so  fool- 
ishly— written  upon  the  Origin  of  Genesis.     I  can 


IV  PREFACE. 

but  think  that  the  reader  will  here  find  that  the  last 
word  had  not  been  said,  and  that  the  application  of 
modern  discoveries  to  the  Oracles  of  God  will  flash 
the  new  light  of  His  providence  across  them,  and 
enable  us  to  determine  'who  were  the  writers  of 
Genesis  and  of  some  other  books. 

The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Perry,  of  Iowa,  a  most 
competent  witness,  reports  that  some  members  of 
the  last  Pan- Anglican  Council  had  doubts  of  por- 
tions of  the  Bible,  notably  Genesis,  which  illustrates 
the  importance  of  the  subject  now  considered.  To 
them,  and  to  all  seekers  after  the  truth,  I  commend 
what  is  here  offered  :  to  Professors  Green  and  Har- 
per, Bissell  and  Briggs,  Cave  and  Clieyne,  Dods  and 
Driver,  and  all  other  Bible  students.  While  I  pre- 
sume not  to  instruct  them,  I  may  suggest  that  the 
more  they  yield  to  negative  criticism,  the  greater  is 
the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  it.  Though  the 
old  traditions  may  be  wrong,  they  do  not  err  in  im- 
plying a  very  ancient  date  for  the  Writers  of  Gene- 
sis, and  an  early  writer  of  Isaiah  40-66. 

My  suggestions  of  authorship  are  not  based  on 
Astruc,  who  died  in  1766.  He  was  a  physician,  not 
a  Bible  expositor.  That  his  theory  should  form  the 
basis  of  so  much  modern  criticism  surprises  me. 
*"'  God  is  His  own  Interpreter"  of  Revelation  and 
of  Creation.  The  discoveries  and  decipherments  of 
our  generation  supply  abundant  reasons  for  believing 
that  four  or  five  early  patriarchs  wrote  their  own 
memoirs.     These  were  incorporated  into  our  Gene- 


PREFACE.  V 

sis  bj  Moses,  and  later  propliets  explained  names  of 
persons  and  places. 

This  idea  I  have  worked  out  bj  careful  analysis 
and  examination  of  various  facts  brought  to  light  by 
the  Egypt  Exploration  Fund  and  other  Oriental  so- 
cieties. Professor  Sayce  corrects  Renan.  The  lit- 
eratures of  the  oldest  nations  sustain  my  view  ;  a 
decent  respect  for  the  opinions  of  mankind  supports 
it  ;  the  culture  and  good  sense  of  the  covenant- 
patriarchs  support  it.  It  honors  Inspiration  and 
God,  the  Revealer. 

The  essay  on  the  Scientific  Method  Applied  to 
the  Bible  is  the  outcome  of  reading  Mr.  John  Bur- 
roughs's  article  in  a  late  North  American  Review  / 
Babylonians  and  Egyptians,  not  Totemists,  was 
evoked  by  recent  lectures  under  the  auspices  of 
Columbia  College,  and  by  W.  Robertson  Smith  ; 
Hebrew  and  Greek  Ethics  was  to  correct  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's third  paper  upon  Holy  Scripture.  If  my 
aim  has  been  high,  I  trust  I  have  been  enabled  to 
reach  the  mark. 

May  the  Enlightening  Spirit  guide  us  all  unto  a 
right  conclusion.  The  Author. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I.  The  Writeks  of  Genesis 9 

§    1.  Wliat  we  Seek 9 

§    2.  What  we  Find 11 

§    3.  Abraham  Distinguishes  Jehovah  from  the  God  of 

Melchizedek IG 

§    4,  New  Testament  Authority 19 

§    5.   Writing  in  the  Fourth  Millennium  B.  c 29 

§    6.  Knowledge  at  the  Time  of  the  Deluge 38 

§    7.  In  Egypt  and  Babylonia 43 

§    8.  The  Tower  of  Babel 50 

§    9.  Summary  of  Points 51 

§  10.  Memoirs  of  Abraham 56 

§  11.  Destruction  of  Sodom  in  Accadian  Legends 64 

§  12.  Some  Domestic  Events 67 

§  13.  Memoirs  of  Isaac 74 

§14.  Jacob's  Memoirs 81 

§  15.  Memoirs  of  Judah 88 

§  16.  Conclusion 96 

n.  The  Weiteb  of  Isaiah  40  to  66 103 

III.  The  Scientific  Method  Applied  to  the  Bible 139 

IV.  Ancient  Babylonians  and  Egyptians  not  Totemists.  ,168 
V.  Me.  Gladstone  on  Hebrew  and  Greek  Ethics 180 


THE  WEITEES   OF   GENESIS 

AND 

RELATED  TOPICS. 


THE  WKITERS  OF   GENESIS. 

Section  1. —  What  we  seek. 

I  SHALL  endeavor  in  these  pages  to  put  the  aver- 
age reader  in  possession  of  the  facts  and  methods 
whereby  he  can  determine  who  were  the  probable 
writers  of  the  first  book  of  the  Bible.  Men  now 
talk  learnedly  about  the  Hexateuch,  thus  massing 
together  that  they  may  afterward  pulverize  the  first 
six  books  of  Holy  Scripture.  But  it  is  of  chief  im- 
portance to  know  if  there  were  not  a  Primus  or  First 
Book,  before  the  redaction  of  what  Moses  revised. 

Our  investigation  proposes  to  show  that  there  was 
a  Primer  which  Abraham  learned,  and  later  prefixed 
to  his  Memoirs  ;  and  that  these  Memoirs  were  con- 
tinued by  Isaac,  Jacob,  and  Judah.  From  them  we 
obtain  the  substance  of  our  Genesis  ;  so,  even  after 
the  revision  by  Moses,  may  be  discovered  differences 
of  style  in'those  early  writers, 

Thus  we  raay  learn  whence  arose  those  distinc- 
1* 


10  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

tions  in  the  use  of  certain  names  for  the  Deity, 
whicli  no  late  writer  would  have  observed,  but  which 
indicate  a  contemporaneous  writing.  Thus,  too, 
primitive  names  of  places  occur  here  and  there, 
which  were  subsequently  changed  to  later  ones.  If 
we  are  charged  with  instructing  our  teachers,  who 
are  more  learned  than  ourselves  in  such  matters,  we 
may  answer,  that  is  only  what  scholars  often  do  who 
do  their  teachers  honor. 

Indeed,  all  that  may  be  adduced  in  favor  of  Moses 
being  the  original  writer  of  Genesis,  or  of  its  being 
the  work  of  several  writers  and  redactors  according 
to  the  critics,  may  be  said  in  favor  of  the  author- 
ship herein  suggested.  Abraham  certainly,  if  not 
Noah,  wrote  the  memoirs  of  his  times  ;  while  those 
who  followed  him  added  to  and  revised  to  date 
under  the  guidance  and  revelation  of  God.  This 
largely  accounts  for  the  differences  in  style  and 
treatment  which  now  puzzle  the  critics.  It  is  the 
key  which  unlocks  the  mystery  of  the  authorship  of 
Genesis. 

"  No  other  book  in  existence  of  snch  varied  styles,  composed 
by  so  many  hands,  and  occupying  so  long  a  period  in  its  com- 
pilation is  marked  by  so  marvellous  a  unity.  A  single  great 
scheme  underlies,  traverses,  and  interpenetrates  the  Bible,  a 
great  and  connected  system  of  truth,  as  bone  and  cartilage  the 
human  frame  ;  a  single,  high,  gracious  and  inflexible  aim  per- 
vades this  majestic  volume  from  end  to  end.  In  principle  and 
essence  the  faith  of  David  and  Paul,  Daniel  and  John,  Abraham 
and  Peter  is  but  one.  Genesis  and  Kevelation  greet  each  other 
across  the  gulf  of  ages.  God's  word  is  a  unit." — Bev.  William 
T.  Sabine. 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  11 

"  This  sacred  story,  even  without  the  assured  and  solemn 
authority  which  it  derives  from  the  inspired  character  of  the 
Book  in  which  it  is  found,  should  always  form  in  sound  criti- 
cism the  base  of  all  history  ;  for  considered  from  a  merely  hu- 
man point  of  view,  it  contains  the  most  ancient  tradition  as  to 
the  first  days  of  the  human  race,  the  only  one  which  has  not 
been  disfigured  by  the  introduction  of  fantastic  myths  of  dis- 
ordered imagination  run  wild." — M.  Lenormant. 

The  seeming  purpose  of  its  first  chapters  was  to 
instruct  man  as  to  the  process  and  Agent  in  Creation, 
80  as  to  induce  him  to  serve  the  God  who  made  him, 
and  to  regard  His  saving  methods.  Though  evi- 
dence is  wanting  that  such  an  account  was  vouch- 
safed to  the  first  men,  Noah  was  fairly  and  Abra- 
ham more  fully  instructed  in  the  origin  of  things 
and  in  Divine  revelations.  He  by  the  inspiration 
of  God  was  enabled  to  correct  prevailing  errors. 
Yet  it  was  not  given  him  to  teach  the  absolute  and 
ultimate  truth,  but  what  was  fundamental  touching 
matter  and  Spirit. 

§  II.  —  What  we  find. 

Thus  we  find  that  Genesis  was  not  written  to  teach 
modern  geology  ;  for  the  people  to  whom  it  was 
given  would  not  have  understood  a  scientific  treatise. 
But  the  Creation  account  in  Genesis  was  to  set  forth 
who  was  the  Author  of  the  Cosmos,  rather  than  the 
precise  order  and  method  of  it.  As  St.  John  says, 
*'  "Without  Him  was  not  anything  made  that  had 
been  made."  In  other  words,  all  material  and  ani- 
mal existences  were  by  the  creative  power  of  God. 


13  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

The  record  is  somewhat  complex,  jet  brief.  It 
at  once  meets  and  corrects  the  old  Accadian  and 
Zoroastrian  ideas  and  legends  of  the  origin  of  the 
Cosmos.  Neither  Tiamat  nor  Ahriman,  as  inde- 
pendent creative  powers,  had  any  part  in  the  crea- 
tion of  the  universe.  There  is  just  enough  of  detail 
recorded  to  remove  current  errors  and  to  present 
God  as  the  Creator  and  Upholder  of  all  worlds  and 
of  all  existences.  The  account  of  creation  was  to 
disclose  the  Creator. 

The  earth  was  before  those  who  lived  upon  it. 
Darkness  was  before  the  light  and  the  sun  was  be- 
fore the  moon,  but  both  were  by  the  Supreme  Being 
who  separated  between  the  day  and  the  night.  Light 
and  darkness,  angels  and  archangels,  good  spirits  and 
those  who  became  evil  spirits,  were  the  creation  of 
God.  His  work  was  perfect,  '^  excellent."  Why, 
then,  Abraham  might  say  to  the  men  of  Ur,  do  you 
worship  the  Moon  God,  or  any  created  objects  ?  and 
to  the  men  of  Larsa,  Why  do  you  worship  the  Sun 
God,  or  any  powers  of  nature  ?  Jehovah  Elohim 
was  the  Creator  of  matter  and  spirit,  of  the  sun  and 
the  moon.  Him  alone  should  men  worship,  who  is 
above  all  and  who  created  all.  Simply  and  chiefly 
to  teach  these  two  grand  but  elementary  facts  was 
the  creation  account  in  Genesis  given  to  man.  We 
are  apt  to  impose  too  much  upon  it. 

""  The  history  of  the  creation  in  Genesis  is  not 
merely  a  cosmogonic  account  of  primitive  date,  but 
above  all  else  it  is  an  express  counter  statement  op- 


ABRAHAM    TO   JUDAH.  .        13 

posed  to  the  conceptions  of  Egypt  and  of  Babylon." 
Yon  Ranke  attributes  this  to  Moses  at  Sinai, 
*^  which  no  terrestrial  vicissitudes  have  ever  touched, 
and  where  nothing  interposes  between  God  and  the 
world."  How,  then,  could  Moses  have  had  any 
knowledge  of  the  Babylonian  conception  of  the 
Cosmos  'i  But  the  universe,  according  to  Mr.  H. 
Spencer's  sesquipedalian  definition,  is  the  outcome 
of  ''  a  change  from  an  indefinite,  incoherent  homo- 
geneity to  a  definite,  coherent  heterogeneity  through 
continuous  differentiations  and  integrations." 
Whereupon  says  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith,  "  This  uni- 
verse may  well  have  heaved  a  sigh  of  relief  when, 
through  the  cerebration  of  an  eminent  thinker,  it 
had  been  delivered  of  this  account  of  its  origin." 

The  second  chapter  sets  forth  the  institution  of 
the  Sabbath,  describes  the  abode  of  man  upon  his 
creation,  his  conscious  superiority  to  the  creatures 
about  him,  and  how  God  made  woman  to  be  his 
helper  and  companion  in  life.  The  two  were  not 
an  outgrowth  or  development  from  other  creatures, 
but  the  creation  of  God,  who  brought  them  together 
and  blessed  them.     They  were  to  replenish  the  earth. 

Genesis  2  :  15-25  relate  how,  after  the  creation  of 
man,  he  was  put  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  to  dress  and 
to  keep  it.  This,  of  course,  implies  the  imparta- 
tion  of  needful  instruction  to  him.  Large  liberty 
was  allowed  him,  and  only  one  prohibition  was  im- 
posed :  he  must  not  eat  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil.     Abraham  was  familiar  with  such 


14        .  THE   WRITERS   OF   GEi^-ESIS. 

legends,  and  that  man  was  divinely  instructed  as  to 
his  duty. 

Adam  was  also  tested  whether  he  was  capable  of 
choosing  a  companion  from  among  all  the  creatures 
to  whom  he  gave  names  ;  the  choice  and  the  naming 
suggest  considerable  intelligence.  But  Adam  did 
not  find  an  ''  answering"  companion  in  all  the  liv- 
ing beings  which  passed  before  him.  No  female 
gorilla  or  chimpanzee  would  please  his  fancy. 

Who  but  an  anti-evolutionist  could  write  the  ac- 
count of  the  creation  of  woman  at  that  time  ?  She 
is  made  for  man,  and  brought  to  him  as  his  help- 
meet in  life.  He  was  an  intelligent  observer  of 
much  that  passed,  and  there  was  no  "  almost  a 
woman"  among  the  creatures  he  had  named.  He 
had  skill,  order,  and  analysis.  He  may  even  have 
learned  to  write  the  account  of  his  education  and  of 
Eve's  creation  before  he  died.  Quite  likely  it  was 
written  before  the  Deluge,  and  preserved  to  the 
times  of  Abraham,  or  of  the  legends  of  Ur.  They 
at  least  taught  that  God  was  the  Creator  and  In- 
structor of  man,  and  that  he  had  sinned  against 
Him.  Of  how  they  worshipped  Him,  the  great 
temple  at  Ur  to  the  Moon  God  bore  witness.  See 
*'  Chaldean  Account  in  Genesis,"  Sayce's  ''  Hibbert 
Lectures"  and  Dr.  Cave's  ''  Inspiration  of  the  Old 
Testament." 

If  we  regard  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis  as  the 
Inspired  account  to  Abraham  rather  than  a  revela- 
tion to  Moses,  we  find  it  just  such  a  version  as  a 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  15 

man  in  that  age  would  give  to  the  people  of  his  day 
and  to  those  who  followed  him.  But  to  make  it  a 
Revelation  to  Moses  three  thousand  years  after  the 
creation  of  man,  and  for  the  science  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  is  to  put  a  meaning  upon  the  record 
which  was  not  intended  when  first  communicated. 

"  Science,"  says  Professor  J.  D.  Dana,  has  made  no  real  prog- 
ress toward  proving  that  the  Divine  act  was  not  required  for 
the  creation  of  Man,  No  remains  of  ancient  Man  have  been 
found  that  indicate  a  progenitor  of  lower  grade  than  the  lowest 
of  existing  tribes  ;  none  that  show  any  less  of  the  erect  pos- 
ture and  other  essential  characteristics  of  the  exalted  species. 
Made  in  the  image  of  God,  Man  was  capable  of  moral  distinc- 
tions and  of  spiritual  progress  ;  and  hence  with  him  began  a 
new  era  in  history,"  viz.,  human  accountability  and  immor- 
tality for  the  crowning  work  of  creation.  Surely  being  made 
in  the  image  of  God  implies  eternal  existence? — 0.  and  N, 
Test.  Student  for  August,  1890,  pp.  94,  95. 

Chapter  third  relates  how  man  sinned,  the  penalty 
inflicted,  how  a  Redeemer  was  promised,  and  the 
expulsion  from  Eden.  That  this  account  was  re- 
vealed to  Abraham  may  be  inferred  from  the  cor- 
rections of  prevailing  errors.  Not  in  Noah's  time 
had  the  Babylonians  come  to  speak  of  Merodach  as 
their  Saviour,  nor  had  the  men  of  Ur  and  of  Larsa 
become  worshippers  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  But 
they  each  were  this  respectively  when  Abraham 
was  called  out  of  Chaldea.  Thus  a  revelation  of 
what  was  to  come  and  of  what  men  ought  to  do  was 
given  for  instruction  in  righteousness  as  well  as  in 
knowledge.     The  accoiint  suffers  greatly  by  being 


16  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

relegated  to  the  time  of  Moses.  To  Abraham  it  was 
disclosed  how  man  had  failed  in  his  first  trial  in 
Eden,  and  in  his  longer  trial  in  the  world  before  the 
deluge.  He  was  himself  a  witness  of  the  idolatry 
in  his  day  among  the  peoples  about  the  Euphrates. 
Merodach  had  failed  to  save  the  Babylonians  ;  Osiris 
had  failed  to  save  the  Egyptians,  and  Sosiosh  had 
failed  to  save  the  Iranians.  Thus  the  supposed 
saviours  of  Hamites,  of  Semites,  and  of  Aryans  had 
alike  failed  in  saving  those  representative  peoples. 

Wherefore  the  Creator  of  all  chose  Abraham  to 
found  a  new  family  for  the  preservation  of  the  true 
religion  among  men,  and  to  prepare  the  world  for 
the  Advent  of  its  Redeemer.  To  Abraham  also  it 
was  given  to  understand  %oliy  he  was  thus  chosen,  and 
the  y^igJit  of  Him  who  had  chosen  him.  Such  a 
revelation  was  needed  for  his  instruction  and  future 
guidance.  So  in  Canaan  and  in  Egypt  he  never 
fell  into  idolatry,  and  in  Gen.  14  :  19-22  he 
finely  distinguishes  between  Melchizedek's  ''  God 
Most  High'-  and  ''  Jehovah,  God  Most  High."  It 
appears  in  the  Revised  Version,  and  marks  the  difl:er- 
ence  between  the  Covenant  God  of  the  chosen  peo- 
ple and  the  god  or  gods  of  the  Gentiles. 

§111. — Abraham  distinguishes  Jehovah  froin  the 
God  of  Melchizedeh. 

We  need  not  go  further  than  Gen.  14  to  learn  that 
it  was  not  originally  written  by  Moses.  Melchize- 
dek  said,  ''  Blessed  be  God  Most  High,  which  hath 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  17 

delivered  tliiiie  enemies  into  thy  hand."  "And 
Abram  said  to  the  king  of  Sodom,  I  have  lift  up 
mine  hand  nnto  the  Lord,  God  Most  High,  posses- 
sor of  heaven  and  earth"  (verses  20  and  22  of  Re- 
vised Version).  To  suppose  that  the  nice  distinction 
of  adding  Jehovah,  the  Lord,  to  tlie  name  of  Mel- 
chizedek's  God,  to  designate  the  God  of  Abraham, 
would  have  been  lianded  down  orally  for  five  or  six 
hundred  years  without  imderstanding  the  strong 
reason  for  it,  or  to  suppose  that  it  was  all  revealed 
to  Moses  together  with  all  other  instances  of  Divine 
revelations  and  religious  distinctions,  amid  the  des- 
erts of  Sinai,  is  to  my  mind  the  top  of  folly  and 
critical  indiscretion. 

I  invite  the  proof  that  the  writer  of  Ex.  6  : 
2-4  was  the  writer  of  Gen.  14  :  20,  22.  He  must 
have  been  nodding  !  And  the  difficulty  here  aris- 
ing, I  explain  thus  :  Abraham  and  his  fathers  for 
the  first  sixty  years  of  his  life  were  worshippers  of 
the  heavenly  bodies.  Joshua  24  :  2  decides  this  as 
well  as  contemporary  history,  ''  Beyond  the  River, 
your  fathers  served  other  gods."  Now  make  the 
pronoun  "them"  in  Ex.  6  :  3  refer  to  those  fathers 
and  to  Abraham  during  the  first  sixty  years  of  his 
life,  and  it  is  literally  true  that  none  of  them  knew 
their  God  or  gods  by  the  name  of  Jehovah.  Even 
to  Isaac  and  Jacob  new  revelations  of  Him  were 
given  at  the  Mount  of  Sacrifice  and  at  the  flight  of 
J^acob.  The  narrative  implies  that  neither  of  them 
had  clear  ideas  of  Jehovah  till  He  more  fully  re- 


18  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

vealed  Himself.  See  this  in  Gen.  22  :  1-9,  and 
note  the  recurrence  of  Jehovah  in  verses  11-18. 

Moreover,  it  was  not  the  purpose  of  Exodus  to 
trace  the  progress  and  unfold  the  methods  of  reve- 
lation. Some  matters  once  known  had  become  for- 
gotten in  large  measure  ;  and  Abraham  and  his  sons 
may  never  have  understood  the  full  import  of  the 
Divine  name  when  disclosed  to  them  at  the  first. 
With  all  his  knowledge,  even  Moses  did  not  know 
it.  Thus  he  saw  the  similarity  of  his  position  with 
that  of  his  forefathers  in  this  respect. 

Of  the  many  expositions  of  'these  passages,  that 
now  offered  satisfies  the  requirements  of  the  text 
and  the  judgment  of  the  writer.  It  is  conclusive 
of  different  writers,  and  the  critics  claim  a  high 
antiquity  for  Gen.  14.  It  was  not  orally  trans- 
mitted during  several  centuries,  nor  was  it  a  new 
revelation  to  Moses  ;  but  it  was  written  by  Abraham. 
He  certainly  had  no  motive  to  misstate  anything  in 
writing  his  memoirs.  Little  by  little  he  received 
Divine  revelations  in  Palestine,  but  he  had  lived 
there  twenty-four  years  before  he  received  circum- 
cision, and  he  knew  not  wliat  next  would  be  re- 
quired. It  proved  to  be  the  promise  of  Isaac,  and 
the  relief  of  Lot  in  Sodom.  There  was  nothing  like 
the  development  of  a  theory  of  religion,  but  it  mostly 
pertained  to  family  affairs,  and  needed  only  a  truth- 
ful scribe.  Its  slow  growth  marks  the  unfolding  of 
revelation  to  Abraham. 

Professor  W.  W.  Martin's  is  a  striking  illustration 


ABRAHAM    TO    JUDAH.  19 

of  a  criticism  which  overlooks  the  point  to  be  ob- 
served. He  appears  not  to  see  that  Abram's  God 
was  all  that  Melchizedck  and  the  king  of  Sodom 
recognized,  and  as  much  more  as  was  implied  by  the 
addition  of  the  name  Jehovah  by  Abram,  Jahveh^ 
the  ever-living  God  Most  High.  So,  later  in  the 
records,  Joseph  realized  that  Jahveh  was  his  Pro- 
tector, Guide,  and  Deliverer  ;  yet  when  he  was  ap- 
proached by  a  wanton  woman  he  reminds  her  of  her 
God,  El  or  Ea,  whom  she  acknowledged  ;  but  not 
of  his  covenant  Jahveh.  As  well  say  that  Joseph 
then  denied  Him,  as  that  Abram  was  in  danger  of 
making  such  a  denial.  (See  Old  and  Neio  Testa- 
ment Student  for  July,  1890,  pp.  46,  47.) 

§  IV. — Wew  Testament  Authority. 

We  have  also  a  New  Testament  reason  for  our 
suggestion  of  early  patriarchal  memoirs.  Thus  St. 
Stephen  explicitly  told  his  hearers  that  Moses  sup- 
posed that  his  brethren  understood  how  that  God 
by  his  hand  was  giving  them  deliverance  (Acts  7  : 
25,  Revised  Version).  Add  to  this  what  Moses  said 
of  himself,  that  w4ien  he  was  grown  up  he  visited  his 
brethren,  looked  on  their  burdens,  and  smote  the 
Egyptian  who  was  smiting  a  Hebrew.  Again  he 
w^ent  out,  and  behold  two  men  of  the  Hebrews 
strove  together  :  and  he  said  to  him  that  did  the 
wrong.  Wherefore  smitest  thou  thy  fellow  ?  And 
he  said.  Who  made  thee  a  prince  and  a  judge  over 
us  ?  thinkest  thou  to  kill  me,  as  thou  killedst  the 


20  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

Egyptian  ?  And  Moses  feared,  for  Pharaoh  sought 
to  slay  him,  and  he  fled  from  his  face,  and  dwelt  in 
the  land  of  Midian.  In  other  words,  rejected  by 
his  own  kinsmen  and  pursued  by  Pharaoh,  he  fled 
to  the  descendants  of  Abraham  in  the  desert  (Ex. 
2  :  11-15). 

He  had  been  instructed  in  the  learning  of  Egypt, 
of  which  his  brethren  knew  little,  and  knew  but  lit- 
tle of  their  family  and  tribal  history,  nor  that  Jeho- 
vah had  promised  Abraham  to  bring  them  out  of 
that  land,  with  great  substance  (Gen.  15  :  14).  But 
Moses  had  learned  all  this.  Readers  of  the  Speak- 
er's and  other  late  commentaries,  as  well  as  recent 
lectures  on  Egypt,  know  somewhat  of  its  arts  and  its 
literature,  and  are  prepared  to  follow  us  in  asking, 
Why  did  Moses  suppose  that  his  brethren  understood 
that  God  would  deliver  them  by  him  ?  The  records 
of  his  life  do  not  inform  us  how  he  learned  the  his- 
tory of  his  own  people.  Not  even  his  Hebrew 
mother  and  elder  sister  could  have  taught  him  all 
those  ancient  documents,  many  of  which  had  be- 
come very  scarce  after  those  centuries  in  Egypt. 
And  it  is  too  much  to  assume  that  he  found  the  his- 
tory of  Israel  among  its  literature. 

In  the  "  Tale  of  the  Two  Brothers"  he  saw  a 
version  of  the  story  of  Joseph,  and  he  may  also  have 
learned  other  details  of  the  family  of  Jacob.  Indeed, 
he  may  have  read  in  Egyptian  records  an  account  of 
the  visit  of  Abraham  six  or  seven  centuries  before, 
and  a  list  of  the  presents  made  him  by  the  reigning 


ABRAHAM    TO    JUDAH.  21 

Pharaoh.  But  it  contained  no  word  for  him  about 
Jehovah's  covenant  with  the  patriarch,  nor  about 
his  being  the  chosen  one  of  God  to  found  a  new 
nation  which  should  prepare  for  the  Messiah,  nor 
that  the  predicted  four  hundred  years  had  well-nigli 
passed,  when  Israel  was  to  return  to  Caanan  (Gen. 
15  :  16). 

Yet  St.  Stephen,  who  evidently  spoke  by  Divine 
inspiration,  clearly  states  that  Moses  supposed  that 
God  by  his  hand  would  deliver  Israel.  And  it  may 
have  been  the  knowledge  he  had  which  prompted 
him  to  act  precipitately  in  smiting  that  Egyptian. 
Moreover,  if  the  tradition  of  his  success  as  an  Egyp 
tian  general  going  against  her  enemies  were  true,  if 
the  princess  who  had  rescued  him  were  dead,  if  a 
Pharaoh  like  Rameses  II.  was  on  the  throne,  who  was 
jealous  of  Moses,  a  man  of  leisure  and  of  influence 
about  the  court,  then  these  were  other  reasons  which 
might  have  led  him  to  suppose  that  he  was  the  one  to 
deliver  his  countrymen,  and  lead  them  to  the  land  of 
their  fathers.  But  success  under  such  conditions 
would  have  given  a  secular  aspect  to  the  Exodus, 
leaving  no  play  for  the  Divine  in  the  passage  of  the 
Red  Sea,  nor  for  the  giving  of  the  Law  at  Sinai. 
So  his  first  attempt  failed. 

Let  us  put  ourselves  in  Moses's  place.  With  all 
his  knowledge  of  Egyptian  literature,  what  could 
he  know  of  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  who  had  cove- 
nanted with  Abraham?  What  could  he  kno^v  of 
the  most  important  parts  of  his  people's  history  ? 


22  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

He  was  forty  years  old.  He  had  not  learned  the 
lessons  of  the  Desert,  nor  the  lessons  which  Jethro 
taught  him,  nor  the  legends  and  traditions  of  the 
Midianites.  But  he  was  a  man  of  intellectual  activ- 
ity and  capacity.  In  what,  during  the  ten  years  of 
his  life  from  thirty  to  forty,  was  he  occupied  ?  St. 
Stephen's  words  must  be  remembered  and  account- 
ed for.  Moses  supposed  that  his  brethren  tender- 
stood  (we  must  trace  up  the  grounds  for  that  sup- 
position and  understanding)  how  that  God  by  his 
hand  was  giving  them  deliverance  ;  but  their  con- 
duct showed  that  they  understood  not.  Prophets 
had  not  arisen  to  tell  them,  and  Moses  himself  had 
not  then  received  his  commission^  nor  heen  vouch- 
safed a  Revelation  to  teach  them  /  and  he  anticipated 
the  time  and  mistook  the  methods  for  the  deliver- 
ance of  his  brethren  from  Egypt.  But  he  had 
learned  some  things  which  were  suggestive. 

How  had  Moses  learned  the  history  of  his  people, 
whereby  he  could  be  led  into  such  a  supposition  ? 
For,  according  to  the  critical  view,  and  even  accord- 
ing to  the  traditional  view  of  Genesis,  this  book  was 
not  then  written.  Did  Moses,  before  the  act  which 
precipitated  his  flight,  receive  the  patriarchal  history 
which  induced  him  to  form  his  supposition  from  the 
direct  inspiration  of  God — his  precipitate  conduct 
notwithstanding — or  did  he  learn  that  history  from 
the  family  records  of  the  Hebrews  ?  In  other 
words,  was  the  Book  of  Genesis  a  Kevelation  to 
Moses,  or  were  the  patriarchal  portions  of  it  family 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  23 

records  made  at  the  time  of  the  events  narrated  ? 
Were  the  Divine  voices,  visions,  and  promises  re- 
corded when  first  vonchsafed  to  man,  or  were  they 
all  left  to  be  revealed  a  second  time  from  God  ? 

Consider  the  supposition  of  Moses  before  his  com- 
mission ;  consider  that  only  one  preacher  of  w^arn- 
ing  was  given  to  the  antediluvians  ;  that  only  one 
grand  pleading  for  Sodom  is  preserved  to  us  ;  that 
only  one  prophet  was  sent  to  warn  Nineveh,  though 
other  prophetic  messages  were  sent  ;  that  no  new 
Table  of  the  Law  was  made  for  the  new  Temple  at 
Jerusalem  after  the  return  from  exile  ;  that  no  sub- 
stitute for  Divine  worship  was  provided  for  the  Ten 
Tribes  after  the  disruption  by  Jeroboam,  notwith- 
standing the  apostasy  which  followed.     So  no  new 
Kevelation  was  made  to  the  compiler  of  Genesis  at 
the  close  of  the  patriarchal  records  which  ended 
with   the    death    and    embalming    of    Joseph    in 
Egypt. 

From  Abraham  to  Moses  was  about  six  hundred 
years.  During  that  time  revelations  were  made  from 
God,  which  were  not  repeated  as  revelations,  for 
they  had  been  carefully  preserved  in  the  Hebrew 
records,  and  only  needed  a  correct  copyist  or  an 
inspired  commentator.  Such  copyist  they  had  in 
Egypt,  and  Moses  had  obtained  copies  of  those 
records  by  purchase  long  before  his  flight  ;  and  he 
became  an  inspired  commentator  of  them  while  in 
Midian,  having  been  a  diligent  student  of  them. 
From  such  study  he  came  to  form  the  supposition 


24  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

"wliicli  St.  Stephen  attributed  to  liiin — i.e.^  from  the 
study  of  the  records  of  the  patriarchs. 

My  beh'ef  is,  and  I  shall  endeavor  to  show,  that 
Noah,  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Judah,  and  Joseph 
were  the  original  writers  of  those  portions  of  Gen- 
esis in  which  they  appear  as  the  active  subjects. 
And  it  matters  not  upon  this  method  of  treatment 
who  was  the  first  redactor,  according  to  the  critics, 
nor  whether  E  or  J  or  P  or  R  find  any  place  in  the 
early  or  late  editions  of  the  Book.  But  my  treat- 
ment will  assign  to  Moses  the  first  editing  of  the 
records  of  Judah,  which  ended  with  the  death  of 
Joseph.  In  Egypt  and  in  Midian  he  collected  all 
the  Hebrew  records  and  traditions.  They  had 
kindled  his  enthusiasm  and  incited  him  to  undue 
haste,  when  he  slew  the  offending  Egyptian.  It 
was  the  outcome  of  the  first  active  decade  of  his 
life.  Then,  with  his  literary  treasures,  he  escaped 
from  an  indignant  and  angry  court. 

We  may  believe  that  Rameses  II.  was  the  Pharaoh 
at  this  time,  and  was  not  disposed  to  look  lightly  on 
such  an  offence  as  that  whi(;h  Moses  had  committed. 
And  the  hiding  the  body  of  the  Egyptian  in  the 
sand,  where  it  was  not  to  be  seen,  embalmed,  and 
buried,  was  to  deprive  the  dead  of  immortahty. 
For  however  just  his  soul  may  have  been,  yet  with- 
out his  body,  which  could  be  preserved  for  three 
thousand  years  only  by  embalming,  the  Egyptian 
supposed  immortality  to  be  impossible  It  aggra- 
vated the  crime.     The  rage  of  Rameses  II.  against 


ABRAHAM   TO    JUDAII.  25 

the  Hyksos  incited  him  to  obhterate  every  trace  of 
them  from  the  region  they  had  occupied  for  cen- 
turies. And  M.  Maspero  has  shown  us  tlie  sculp- 
tures from  wliich  he  had  erased  the  Hyksos  legends 
and  inscribed  those  of  himself  instead.  This  alone 
is  strong  proof  against  the  rhetoric  of  Renan,  that 
the  Hyksos  were  permitted  to  remain  in  Egypt  and 
to  fight  the  battles  of  the  Hebrews  in  their  oppres- 
sion !  No  ;  not  even  Moses  himself  felt  safe  till  he 
had  fled  to  the  desert  of  Midian.  There  he  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  the  priest-king ;  there  he 
learned  other  details  and  traditions  of  that  branch 
of  Abraham's  descendants,  and  there,  during  his 
forty  years'  exile,  he  worked  over  and  arranged  for 
the  Hebrew  people  the  Book  of  Genesis  as  pre- 
served to  us,  from  the  earlier  writings  of  the  patri- 
archs. But  he  attempted  no  account  of  the  resi- 
dence in  Egypt. 

He  was  a  learned  man,  an  active  man,  a  born 
leader  of  his  people.  His  character  when  he  fled 
from  Pharaoh  Rameses  II.  became  more  mature 
and  ripe,  and  was  permeated  with  the  Divine  Spirit 
when  he  returned  and  stood  before  Pharaoh  Men- 
ephtah,  saying,  "  Thus  saith  Jehovah,  let  my  peo- 
ple Israel  go,  that  they  may  hold  a  feast  unto  Me  in 
the  wilderness. "  It  was  not  an  unknown  region, 
but  the  country  from  which  the  now  duly  commis- 
sioned leader  had  just  returned  after  a  memorable 
interview  with  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  where  for 
ages  the  Egyptians  had  mines  which  they  woi'ked. 
2    ' 


26  'the  writers  of  genesis. 

Sncli  a  man  as  that  could  not  be  content  with  tend- 
ing sheep  for  his  father-in-law.  His  mind  brood- 
ed over  the  past,  over  liis  former  opportunity  and 
mistakes,  over  the  possibilities  of  the  future  ;  and 
he  was  inspired  by  Jehovah  to  do  His  bidding. 
The  time  had  now  come.  Rameses  II.,  the  pow- 
erful king,  had  died,  and  Menephtah  reigned  in  his 
stead.  Such  are  some  of  the  well-attested  facts  of 
Moses's  life  and  times.  He  personally  was  not  a 
miracle,  but,  with  the  rod  of  God,  was  a  worker  of 
miracles.  Like  Elijah  in  a  later  age,  he  was  hu- 
man, fed  by  daily  food  to  nourish  his  body,  and 
his  soul  was  sustained  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  while 
his  mind  was  full  of  the  history  and  appointed 
destiny  of  Israel.  He  knew  that  covenant  promise 
in  Gen.  15  :  13-18  ;  that  his  people  had  been 
strangers  and  servants  in  Egypt  for  four  hundred 
years  ;  that  their  oppressors  were  about  to  be  judged, 
and  that  Israel  should  go  forth  with  great  substance. 
A  mother's  love  had  saved  him  for  a  great  mission. 
A  father's  knowledge  had  been  imparted  to  him. 
Family  affection,  the  watchfulness  of  Miriam,  the 
prophetic  eloquence  of  Aaron,  cherished  him  and 
centred  around  him.  Thus  Moses  was  instructed  in 
Hebrew  traditions  as  well  as  in  Egyptian  learning. 

Critics  in  various  analyses  and  books  upon  Gen- 
esis object  to  the  traditional  views  of  its  authorship. 
They  claim  to  hnd  diversity  in  style  and  treatment  ; 
that  some  words  are  peculiar  to  each  writer,  espe- 
cially the  names  for  Deity,  etc.     Be  it  so.     My  sug- 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  27 

gestion  of  the  patriarchal  origin  and  writing  of  the 
first  book  of  tlie  Bible  fully  accounts  for  all  existing 
differences  of  style  and  of  verbal  characteristics.  I 
shall  waste  no  words  upon  the  orthography,  syntax, 
or  grammar  of  the  writers.  Possibly  some  of  them 
never  learned  to  conjugate  a  Hebrew  verb.  They 
have  been  described  as  writing  in  a  style  now  free 
and  flowing,  now  concise  and  rigid,  now  using  stories 
and  traditions,  now  picturesque,  poetical,  prophetic 
in  their  delineations.  And  if  we  allow  several 
writers  and  revisers  of  the  first  nine  chapters,  fol- 
lowed by  Abraham  for  his  portion,  by  Isaac  for  his 
register,  by  Jacob  for  his  records  and  visions,  by 
Judah  for  the  continuance  and  completion  of  the  his- 
tory and  of  the  story  of  Joseph,  and  by  Moses  as  the 
inspired  redactor  and  reviser  of  the  whole  into  what 
is  substantially  our  present  Book  of  Genesis,  we 
shall  find  ample  room  for  verbal  variations  in  sec- 
tions, for  differences  in  style,  for  some  explanatory 
words  and  sentences,  while  all  is  duly  authenticated. 
It  was  a  progressive  writing  during  seven  hundred 
years. 

I  am  quite  aware  that  such  a  suggestion,  if  made 
thirty  years  ago,  would  have  been  regarded  as  ab- 
surd, having  no  grounds  to  rest  upon.  Indeed, 
when  a  3^outh  I  maintained  the  affirmative  in  more 
than  one  discussion  of  the  question  whether  Moses 
could  write  !  Now,  however,  my  theme  requires 
probable  proof  and  illustration  that  Abraham  could 
write  ;  that  Isaac  could  write  his  treaty  with  Abim- 


28  THE   WRITERS   OF   GE]!^ESIS. 

elecb,  for  example  ;  that  Jacob  recorded  bis  visions 
at  Betb-el  and  Peniel  ;  and  that  Judab  of  tbe  signet 
ring  was  tbe  Scribe  of  his  people.  The  method 
must  be  largely  inductive.  However,  I  shall  lirst 
state  the  reasons  and  grounds  on  which  my  sugges- 
tion is  based. 

The  point  at  which  we  start  and  to  which  we 
must  return  is  the  probabibty  that  Abraham  could 
read  and  write.  Modern  research  has  discovered 
the  temple  in  which  he  worshipped,  the  name  of 
the  god  he  adored,  and  the  Psalm  of  adoration 
which  for  forty  years  he  chanted.  The  temple 
was  that  of  Sin,  the  male  moongod  of  Ur,  and  the 
prayer  psalm  is  not  only  devout,  but  it  suggests  the 
style  of  some  theological  parts  of  Genesis  ;  and  that 
the  man  who  early  learned  that  prayer  was  the 
writer  of  certain  Divine  names. 

We  also  find  on  the  bricks  of  the  lower  stage  of 
the  great  temple  the  inscribed  name  of  King  Urukh 
or  Ligbagas  who  built  it.  He  also  built  the  wall  of 
Ur.  It  was  the  most  ancient  capital  of  Accad,  and 
was  a  sacred  city  distinguished  for  its  learning. 
This  hymn  to  its  patron  deity  -was  written  in  Acca- 
dian  and  Assyrian,  on  a  tablet  now  in  the  British 
Museum.  I  give  part  of  it,  as  rendered  in  Tom- 
kins's  ''Times  of  Abraham."  Professor  Sayce 
translates  it  in  the  ''Hibbert  Lectures"  for  1887. 
We  may  imagine  Abraham  singing  : 

* '  Lord  !  prince  of  gods  of  heaven  and  earth,  whose  mandate  is 
exalted  ! 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  29 

Father  !  god  enliglitening  earth  !     Lord  !    good  god,  of   gods 

the  prince  ! 
Father  !  god  enlightening  earth  !    Lord  !  great  god,  of  gods 

the  prince  ! 
Father  !  god  enlightening  earth  !    Lord  god  of  the  month,  of 

gods  the  prince  ! 
Father  !  god  enlightening  earth  !     Lord  of  Ur,  of  gods  the 

prince  ! 
Father  mine,  of  life  the  giver,  cherishing,  beholding  all  ! 
Lord,  who  power  benign  estendeth  over  all  the  heaven  and 

earth  ! 
Seasons,  rains,  from  heaven  forth  drawing,  watching  life  and 

yielding  showers  ! 
Father,  long-suffering  in  waiting,  whose  hand  upholds  the  life 

of  mankind. 
Thou   thy  will    in   heaven  revealest ;   thee   celestial  spirits 


praise 


§  V. —  Writing  in  the  fourth  millennium  B,  C. 

While  1  hold  that  certain  dynasties  of  Egypt  and 
that  certain  kings  of  Babylonia  were  contempora- 
neous, I  am  free  to  admit  the  great  antiquity  of  read- 
ing and  writing  in  those  lands.  Professor  Maspero 
says  :  ''  Hebron  no  doubt  was  acquainted  with  the 
Hittite  writing  of  Zoan,  adopted  it,  and  possessed 
writings  from  a  remote  date. ' '  (See  ' '  Bible 
Growth  and  Keligion,"  pp.  87-90.)  Abraham 
came  from  Ur,  which  was  even  then  a  centre  of 
learning.  Sargon  I.  may  have  been  before  him, 
and  certainly  was  not  long  after  him.  A  copy  of 
his  annals  has  come  down  to  us.  He  was  a  success- 
ful general  and  organizer,  and  a  collector  of  libraries 
which  made  him  famous.     He  traversed  and  con- 


30  THE   WRITERS   OF    GENESIS. 

quered  the  countries  north  and  west  to  Cyprus,  and 
on  its  rocks  lie  inscribed  a  hkeness  of  himself.  He 
also  carried  large  booty  from  that  island  to  Asia. 
Other  inscribed  figures  of  that  era  have  been  found. 
Indeed,  Sargon  I.  dedicated  an  inscribed  egg  of 
veined  marble  to  the  Sun  God  of  Sippara,  which  is 
now  in  the  British  Museum  ;  and  the  seal  of  his 
librarian,  Ibni-sarru,  is  in  the  hands  of  M.  Le  Clercq, 
of  Paris.  There  is  an  ancient  tradition  and  legend 
of  him  as  Sargina,  who  was  preserved  and  rescued 
in  a  way  similar  to  that  of  Moses  in  Egypt.  The 
pyramid  builders  were  as  early  as  the  fourth  mil- 
lennium B.C.,  when  the  Babylonians  had  their  quar- 
ries in  Sinai,  and  from  thence  transported  blocks 
of  stone  to  Babylonia.  All  which  are  evidences  of 
art  and  culture  at  that  time.  And  when  Kham- 
muragas  reigned,  about  2300  e.g.,  there  seems  to 
have  been  a  great  literary  revival,  when  the  main 
bulk  of  Accadian  literature  came  into  existence. 
(Sayce's  ^^  Hibbert  Lectures"  for  1887,  pp.  29-33 
and  420.) 

"  On  the  rocks  of  Wady  Magharah,  in  the  Si- 
naitic  peninsula,  may  be  seen  to  this  day  an  incised 
tablet  representing  Sneferu,  the  first  monarch  of 
the  fourth  dynasty,  in  the  act  of  smiting  an  ene- 
my, whom  he  holds  by  the  hair  of  his  head.  At 
the  side  we  may  see  the  words,  Ta  satu,  Smiter  of 
the  nations."  A  famous  second  dynasty  tablet  is 
in  the  Ashmolean  Museum  at  Oxford.  There  are 
other  inscriptions  of  an  early  age. 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  31 

Mr.  Theodore  G.  Pinches,  in  a  letter  to  the  Acad- 
emy of  January  21st,  1888,  and  to  the  En^^lish  editor 
of  Schrader's  "  Cuneiform  Inscriptions,"  vol.  2, 
which  that  editor  incorporated  into  it,  says  that  one 
of  the  tablets  of  Babylonian  inscriptions  of  about 
3000  B.C.  maybe  thus  rendered  :  **  The  day  for  the 
worship  of  the  gods  wa.s  the  deliglit  of  his  (the 
writer's)  heart,  and  the  prayer  of  a  king— that  was 
joy.  How  did  he  learn  the  path  of  God  glorious,  who 
in  the  world  lived,  died,  renewed  ?  .  .  .  Open  the 
high  place,  they  have  granted  my  prayer  (r),  until 
there  be  no  more  death,  and  weeping  cease."  This 
inscription  was  considered  so  important  as  very 
early  to  be  accompanied  \vith  a  glossary  to  explain 
all  the  hard  and  obsolete  words  in  the  ancient  text. 
Again  and  again  the  copyist  wrote,  ''  How  has  he 
learned  the  path  of  God  glorious,  who  in  the  world 
lived,  died,  renewed  ?"  Moreover,  the  office  of 
Mediator  was  anciently  performed  by  Marduk,  prob- 
ably referring  to  the  "  One  who  in  the  world  lived, 
died,  renewed."  It  is  a  Messianic  prophecy,  which 
possibly  found  fulfilment  in  Marduk  3000  years  b.c. 
And  writing  was  then  known  in  Babylonia  and  in 
Egypt. 

For  confirmation  let  us  turn  to  Gen.  4  :  19-22, 
where  we  read  of  Jabal,  the  father  of  such  as  dwell 
in  tents — tents  which  imply  spinning  and  weaving. 
Jabal 's  brother  was  Jubal  of  the  harp  and  organ  or 
pipe,  implying  yet  more  skill  than  tent-making. 
Then  w^e  have  Tubal-Cain,  the  forger  of  every  cut- 


32  THE    WRITERS    OF    GENESIS. 

ting  instrument  of  brass  or  copper  and  iron.  And 
this  stage  of  art  and  niecliauics  was  before  the  death 
of  Adam.  Ko  rearrangement  of  tlie  records  would 
place  this  item  after  the  father  of  Noah. 

In  the  Babylonian  and  Oriental  Record  for  Jan- 
uary, 1890,  Mr.  Pinches  recounts  sundry  traditions 
of  the  Chinese,  such  as  those  of  the  Deluge,  Crea- 
tion, Paradise,  the  Tree  of  Knowledge,  the  Temp- 
tation, the  Fall,  the  Curse,  traditions  of  Satan  and 
the  Angels,  and  of  the  Dispersion  of  mankind. 

In  the  creation  of  Adam  they  say,  ''  Father  God 
took  a  piece  of  His  life,  and  breathed  into  the  nos- 
trils of  the  man  and  the  woman  He  had  created,  and 
they  were  real  human  beings.  Thus  creation  was 
finished."  In  a  series  of  papers  in  that  journal  it 
is  shown  that  the  Chinese  may  be  traced  back  to  the 
reign  of  Khammuragas  in  Babylonia,  whence  they 
emigrated,  about  2300  b.c.  His  reign  of  lifty-five 
years  is  identified  with  that  of  Belos,  wdio  is  also 
identified  with  Bel-Merodach  (pp.  16,  19,  22). 

In  the  Chaldean  legend  preserved  by  Berosus  we 
are  told  that  Xisuthros — another  name  for  Noah — 
was  commanded,  just  before  the  Deluge,  to  bury 
all  written  documents  known  to  him  at  Sippara, 
the  ancient  book  town  near  Babylon.  This  he  did, 
and  upon  leaving  the  Ark  after  the  flood  he  re- 
turned to  Sippara,  disinterred  those  buried  treasures, 
and  thus  transmitted  them  to  posterity.  Hence  the 
written  knowledge  of  the  antediluvians  has  come 
down  to  us.     However  that  may  be,  we  find  a  close 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  33 

resemblance  in  tlie  ideas,  tliouglits,  and  legends  of 
primitive  man  wherever  scattered. 

Old  Sippara  and  Agade,  near  by,  were  probably 
tlie  '^  Sepliarvaim"  of  the  Book  of  Kings  and  of 
Isaiah.  The  spade  and  modern  deciplierments  have 
disclosed  their  long-buried  inscriptions,  so  that  to- 
day we  have  much  of  their  learning.  The  writings 
of  old  Accad,  Babylon,  and  Egypt  have  been  trans- 
lated into  modern  tongues.  If  we  have  not  yet 
learned  the  processes  of  their  thought,  we  hav3 
abundant  evidences  of  their  writing,  their  art,  and 
mechanical  skill.  TJiese  clearly  express  their  ideas 
of  creation  and  of  Providence,  how  man  came  into 
being,  how  God  was  the  directive  Force  in  the 
ordering  of  the  world,  how  He  was  worshipped  in 
the  first  ages,  and  how  He  communicated  His  will 
to  man.  Sometimes  their  ideas  are  crude  and 
mythical,  and  sometimes  they  mistake  the  order  of 
nature.  Thus  Accadian  legends  place  the  Moon  be- 
fore the  creation  of  the  Sun,  and  they  give  the 
woman  precedence  over  the  man  ;  they  also  give  a 
polytheistic  coloring  to  their  Deluge  legends,  and 
express  providential  oversight  by  making  the  planets 
^' gods  of  the  sky,"  who,  dwelling  in  them,  kept 
them  from  going  wrong. 

If  Genesis  tells  how  God  placed  at  the  entrance 
to  Eden,  after  man's  expulsion,  cherubim  and  a  flam- 
ing sword  which  turned  every  way,  to  keep  the  way 
to  the  Tree  of  Life,  the  Gizdhubar^  legends 
tell  of 

2* 


34  THE   WRITERS    OF   GENESIS. 

*'  The  scorpion  men  who  guard  its  gate, 

Of  whom  consuming  is  their  terribleness,  and  their  aspect 

death, 
Great  is  their  majesty,  o'ershadowing  the  forests. 
At  the  rising  of  the  Sun  and  the  setting  of  the  Sun  they 
guard  the  Sun." 

Ill  other  words— so  Mr.  St.  Boscawen,  in  tlie  June 
number  of  the  I^ahylonian  and  Oriental  Recm'd 
for  1S89 — Gizdhubar  encounters  "  certain  strange 
Cherubim-like  guardians  of  the  gates  of  the  Sun,  de- 
scribed as  scorpion  men,  whose  heads  tower  to  the 
dome  of  Heaven,  and  whose  feet  rest  in  the  shadow 
of  the  land,  or  house  of  death.  In  their  appearance 
they  are  terrible,  burning,  consuming,  as  the  flaming 
sword  was  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  Beyond  them, 
moreover,  it  is  said  (in  col.  5),  lay  a  beautiful  garden 
which  they  guarded,  further  characterized  as  being 
'  equal  to  the  trees  of  the  gods  in  aspect,'  '  bear- 
ing emeralds  as  its  fruit,'  '  whose  branches  bend 
not  to  uphold  the  crystal  covering  they  bear  as  foli- 
age,' '  pleasant  to  the  sight.'  This  last  phrase,  it  is 
needless  to  add,  recalls  that  portion  of  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  biblical  garden  : 

'^  '  Every  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  sight  and  good  for 
food  '  (Gen.  2:9). 

^'  The  scorpion-men  of  this  legend  serve,  like  the 
guardians  of  Eden,  to  exclude  the  hero,  Gizdhubar, 
from  access  to  this  paradisaical  garden,  and  from  the 
Tree  of  Life,  where  he  might  restore  his  sick  and 
declining  frame." 

Moreover,  a  cylinder  of  hard  stone,  now  in  the 


ABRAHAM    TO    JUDAH.  35 

British  Museum,  has  a  tree  represented  on  it  with 
several  horizontal  branches  on  either  side  ;  the  low- 
est branches  bear,  each,  a  large  bunch  of  fruit.  A 
man  sits  on  one  side  of  the  tree  and  a  woman  on  the 
other  side.  They  stretch  out  their  hands  as  if  to 
pluck  the  fruit.  Behind  the  woman  stands  a  ser- 
pent erect  (Smith's  "  Chaldean  Account  in  Gen- 
esis," pp.  88-91).  These  two  records  of  the  tablets 
can  mean  nothing  less  than  the  Fall  and  expulsion 
of  Man  from  Eden.  They  inform  us  of  the  tempta- 
tion and  of  the  punishment  of  man. 

Following  upon  that  first  sin  is  a  legend  in  differ- 
ent versions  of  Cain  and  Abel.  As  was  quite  natu- 
ral, Mother  Eve  was  early  regarded  as  the  daughter 
of  God,  for  so  indeed  she  was  by  creation.  The 
birth  of  her  first  child  was  a  real  astonishment.  No 
wonder  she  came  to  be  considered  as  a  goddess, 
offspring  of  the  Great  God.  Very  early  the  even- 
ing star  was  made  her  symbol,  and  then  the  morn- 
ing star.  First  deified  as  Nana,  2500  years  b.c.  or 
sooner,  she  was  then  called  Istar.  Her  image,. .car- 
ried off  1635  years  before  Assur-bani-pal,  was  re- 
covered by  his  generals  at  the  capture  of  Shushan. 
She  was  long  the  supposed  bride  of  Tamrauz,  the 
goddess  of  Assur  and  of  Babylonia.  At  first  pure 
as  heaven,  she  was  then  debased  to  earth,  and  made 
the  innocent  patron  of  licentiousness. 

Her  legend  in  the  Gizdhubar  Epic  may  have  in- 
corporated somewhat  of  the  story  of  Nimrod  and  of 
the  older  tragedy  of  Cain,  who  slew  his  brother. 


36  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

For,  instead  of  being  the  bride  of  Tammuz,  she  was, 
in  fact,  his  mother,  who  mourned  for  her  son  when 
slain  by  his  brother  Adar.  Such  was  the  Accadian 
version  of  Cain  and  AbeL  We  can  form  httle  con- 
ception of  the  astonishment  at  the  first  human  birth  ; 
greater  yet  was  that  at  the  first  death.  Terrible  in- 
deed was  the  horror  of  the  first  murder.  The 
amazement  and  anguish  of  Eve  at  the  lifeless  body 
of  her  son  cannot  be  expressed  in  words.  Sculp- 
ture and  the  painter  can  better  do  it.  See  the  strik- 
ing attempt  in  a  group  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum, 
and  also  the  horrible  expression  of  the  Cain.  We 
quote  Byron  as  he  makes  Mother  Eve  exclaim  : 

"  May  the  grass  wither  from  thy  feet !  the  woods 
Deny  thee  shelter  !  earth  a  home  !  the  dust 
A  grave  !  the  sun  his  light,  and  heaven  her  God  !' ' 

Some  such  feeling  and  sympathy  with  the  first 
mother  prompted,  we  may  believe,  the  daughters 
of  Babylonia  to  make  annual  lamentation  for  the 
dead  Tammuz,  which  is  but  another  name  for  Abel. 
Hence  the  origin  of  that  ancient  custom  and  of  por- 
tions of  the  old  Babylonian  epic,  which  is  far  more 
a  tragedy  than  a  love  story.  Like  Eachel  weeping 
for  her  children,  the  mother  of  Tammuz  and  her 
daughters  wept  for  their  dead.  It  was  Eve  who  be- 
came the  goddess  Istar  ;  the  first  of  deified  human- 
ity, and  the  longest  to  retain  her  hold  upon  man. 
Thus  motherhood  was  early  honored  in  our  w^orld 
by  practices  which  degenerated  into  base  supersti- 
tions.   As  the  Venus  God,  Istar  wafe  worshipped  at 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  37 

Accad,  Erecli,  Sippara,  Ur,  and  Ilaran  in  the  era  of 
Abraham  ;  as  Ashtoreth  and  Astarte  by  the  Phoeni- 
cians, and  as  Diana  and  Venus  by  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans. The  murder  of  Tammuz  was  thought  to 
have  been  avenged  in  the  Deluge  of  Noah. 

Genesis  was  the  first  Hebrew  book  of  science,  the 
first  Hebrew  history,  and  tlie  first  book  of  theology. 
And  it  was  in  advance  of  any  other  science  or  his- 
tory which  has  come  down  to  us.  In  other  words, 
the  science  disclosed  in  our  Bible  and  the  history 
recorded  therein  are  in  advance  of  all  other  writings 
of  the  earliest  ages.  It  must,  therefore,  have  had 
an  inspired  author.  Abraham  probably  rewrote  the 
first  nine  chapters  of  Genesis,  compiled  from  still 
earlier  records  ;  but  if  they  were  first  written  by 
Moses,  the  marvel  is  great  ;  for  it  required  a  reve- 
lation of  past  events  as  well  as  of  the  creation  story. 

Besides  an  account  of  the  Sacred  Tree,  the  Ser- 
pent, and  the  Expulsion  for  the  sin  of  man,  found  in 
various  ethnic  traditions.  Genesis  gives  an  account 
of  the  unity  of  the  human  race,  which  is  sustained 
by  Baron  Cuvier,  by  Dr.  Prichard,  and  by  Quar- 
trefages.  Even  Darwin  was  a  monogenist.  Then 
we  have  the  unity  of  language  as  stated  in  Genesis 
confirmed  by  modern  analysis.  Max  Miiller  reduces 
the  entire  speech  of  man  to  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  roots,  or  mother  ideas.  Every  thought  that 
ever  crossed  the  mind  of  man  can  be  traced  back  to 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty  simple  concepts 
('^  Science  of  Thought").     Man's  bodily  structure. 


38  THE    WRITERS    OF    GENESIS. 

his  instincts,  senses,  appetites,  affections,  mental 
faculties,  religious  capacities — all  point  to  the  same 
ethnic  origin.  As  to  color,  the  Jew  is  white  in  Eng- 
land and  America,  brown  in  Italy,  olive  in  Syria, 
coffee-colored  in  Arabia,  and  almost  black  in  Abys- 
sinia. Touching  religion,  man  is  everywhere  relig- 
ious, even  to  superstition.  He  prays  as  naturally  as 
he  laughs.  So  in  all  these  grand  tests  of  truthfulness 
our  Genesis  is  indisputably  true.  The  ethnography 
of  chapter  10  is  true  history,  though,  perhaps,  writ- 
ten after  the  birth  of  Moab  and  Animon,  if  not  of 
Ishmael  and  Esau.  From  the  sons  of  Noah  the 
world  has  been  peopled.  Upon  these  several  mat- 
ters are  some  excellent  remarks  by  Dr.  A.  Cave  in 
his  "'  Inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament,"  pp.  110- 
160.  Whatever  knowledge  of  these  things  Abra- 
ham got  from  current  legends  and  traditions,  the 
arrangement  and  revision  of  them,  if  used  in  com- 
piling our  Genesis,  required  Divine  Insj^firaiion, 

§  VI. — The  Deluge  and  Knowledge  then. 

Briefly,  we  find  that  God  told  Noah  when  to  build 
the  Ark  ;  God  sent  the  destruction  upon  man  ;  shut 
the  door  of  the  Ark  ;  assuaged  the  flood  of  waters  ; 
set  His  bow  in  the  heavens  in  token  that  He  would 
not  again  destroy  man  with  a  Flood  ;  and  when  the 
sweet  odors  of  Noah's  sacrifice  ascended  to  the  skies, 
God  smelled  the  fragrance.  For  it  is  remarkable 
that  while  the  legends  give  a  polytheistic  version  of 
the  account,   our    Genesis  corrects   them,  saying, 


ABRAHAM    TO    JUDAH.  39 

*^  Jehovah" — God  in  Divine  Unity — smelled  the 
sweet  savor  of  that  sacrifice.  It  looks  like  a  record 
carefully  made  by  the  saved  man,  whose  knowledge 
in  other  matters  doubtless  included  the  ability  to 
write  out  his  wonderful  experiences. 

Moreover,  the  legend  of  the  preservation  of  the 
antediluvian  writings  at  Sippara  can  mean  nothing 
less  than  that,  in  that  far-off  age,  men  were  com- 
petent to  read  and  write.  Ev^en  before  the  Deluge 
this  art  was  known  among  men,  and  so  they  who 
lived  near  that  catastrophe  believed.  Their  brick 
inscriptions  inform  us  how  the  older  written  knowl- 
edge was  preserved.  Accadian  and  Egyptian 
legends  have  been  discovered  and  deciphered  which 
make  this  fact  clear.  For  legend  is  not  a  myth  or 
a  guess,  but  a  reading,  and  those  ancient  legends 
record  impressions  of  how  mankind  were  preserved 
from  total  extinction.  In  Chaldea,  Egypt,  India, 
China,  they  testify  that  such  preservation  was  by 
Divine  interposition.  Brick,  stone,  papyrus,  are 
uniform  in  the  main  facts.  A  long-lived  race  had 
the  time  needed  for  various  learning.  Step  by  step 
they  attained  to  the  treasures  of  knowledge,  and 
they  were  careful  to  record  for  after  'generations 
their  ideas  and  achievements.  Forgeries  no  one 
pretends  them  to  be  ;  but  even  forgery  would  prove 
a  true  original.  Men  do  not  counterfeit  the  spuri- 
ous, but  the  genuine  ;  the  actual,  not  the  fictitious. 
To  invent  Deluge  legends  is  absurd. 

Possibly  the  Egyptian  story  of  Thoth  and  his 


40  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

wonderful  book,  wliose  contents,  even  a  single  page, 
would  charm  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  the  seas 
and  the  mountains,  may  have  arisen  from  the  legend 
of  the  book  knowledge  of  the  world  preserved  at 
Sippara,  notwithstanding  the  misfortune  which  it 
brought  upon  its  possessor.  Or  it  may  have  been 
a  version  of  the  forbidden  knowledge  obtained  by 
eating  of  the  forbidden  fruit  in  Eden,  which,  as  in 
the  Pandora's  box  of  the  Greeks,  brought  unspeak- 
able evils  upon  mankind. 

Then  tlieir  destruction  by  the  God  Ra,  as  told  in 
another  Egyptian  story,  cannot  have  been  without 
a  foundation  in  truth.  ''  For  a  long  time  he  had 
reigned  over  obedient  subjects,  but  at  length  they 
grew  headstrong  and  unruly  ;  they  uttered  words 
against  Ra  ;  they  plotted  evil  things  ;  they  griev- 
ously offended  him.  So  he  called  a  council  of  the 
celestials  to  consider  what  he  should  do.  They  ad- 
vised that  mankind  be  destroyed.  Hathor  and 
Sekliet  were  commissioned  to  the  work  of  destruc- 
tion, and  proceeded  to  smite  the  men  over  the  whole 
land.  This  brought  fear  and  repentance  upon  them, 
and  the  men  of  Elephantine  made  haste  to  propi- 
tiate the  gods.  They  extracted  the  juice  from  the 
best  of  their  fruits,  mingled  it  with  human  blood, 
filled  seven  thousand  jars  with  it,  and  brought  them 
as  an  offering  to  the  Deity.  Ra  drank  and  was  con- 
tent, and  bade  that  the  liquor  which  remained  be 
poured  out  of  the  jars  ;  when,  lo  !  an  inundation 
covered    the    whole    land    of   Egypt.     And  when 


ABRAHAM    TO    JUDAH.  41 

Hathor  went  forth  tlie  next  day  to  destroy,  she  saw 
no  men  in  the  fields,  but  only  water,  which  slie 
drank  ;  it  pleased  lier,  and  slie  went  away  satisfied.' ' 
Some,  indeed,  see  no  reference  to  tlie  Deluge  in  this 
story,  while  others  of  undoubted  learning  and  judg- 
ment do.  It  implies  that  a  destruction  had  been 
wrought  as  a  punishment  for  the  sins  of  men  by  the 
Deity,  and  that  those  who  surviv^ed  the  pestilence 
or  smiting  of  Hathor  were  destroyed  by  inundation 
of  the  river.  By  a  confusion  in  the  order  of  events, 
the  propitiatory  sacrifice  of  the  Elephan tines,  though 
acceptable  to  Ka,  failed  to  procure  the  desired  res- 
pite. This  is  unaccountable.  In  another  version 
of  this  story,  by  M.  Naville,  in  ''  Eecords  of  the 
Past,"  he  represents  some  men  as  saved,  and  that 
the  practice  of  making  libations  to  Hathor  arose  from 
that  fact.  Lenormant  suggests  the  correspondence 
of  Ea  in  Egypt  with  Bel  in  Chaldea,  and  that  the 
form  of  the  tradition  was  changed  to  suit  the  feel- 
ings of  the  Egyptians,  who  regarded  the  overflow- 
ing Nile  as  a  benefaction.  Hence  the  destructive 
gods  were  the  slayers  of  men.  (See  ''  God  in  Crea- 
tion," pp.  101-111.)  Such  variations  in  the  ac- 
count are  not  denials  of  the  catastrophe. 

In  the  Accadian  legend  the  variations  are  marked. 
Principal  Dawson  has  called  attention  to  them  in  a 
paper  in  the  Contempm'ary  Beview  for  December, 
1889.  There  a  '' steersman"  is  introduced,  the 
ship  is  'launched,"  not  floated  with  the  rising 
waters  ;  while  the  dimensions  of  the  Ark  are  large- 


42  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

ly  increased.  Its  construction  and  navigation  imply 
advanced  knowledge  in  such  matters.  The  Biblical 
is  the  more  reasonable  account,  but  that  is  of  a  vessel 
800  cubits  long,  50  cubits  wide,  and  30  cubits  high, 
with  lower,  second,  and  third  stories,  having  sundry 
comjiartments.  It  was  to  be  of  such  form  and 
strength  as  to  carry  an  immense  cargo  of  provisions 
and  living  animals,  endure  a  terrific  downpour  from 
heaven,  and  withstand  the  shocks  of  a  breaking  up 
of  the  foundations  of  the  great  deep.  That  catas- 
trophe included  upheavals,  convulsions,  and  various 
destructive  forces  at  work.  The  saving  vessel  must 
be  duly  proportioned,  well  built,  and  capacious. 
Nor  was  it  a  mere  float,  but  a  three-decked  vessel 
as  large  as  an  Atlantic  steamer.  Those  300  cubits 
were  nearly  600  feet,  the  width  was  about  twice 
that  of  a  large  steamer,  and  the  depth  some  55  ft. 
The  sacred  cubit  is  supposed  to  have  been  two  of 
our  feet,  or  25  inches. 

While  30  and  50  are  factors  of  300,  few  builders 
would  trust  their  memory  with  the  figures,  nor  with 
the  deck  measurement  and  divisions  of  the  Ark. 
Then  as  now  the  skill  to  build  such  a  huge  float 
implies  the  skill  to  write  down  the  directions.  Add 
to  this  the  legend  of  the  preservation  of  the  ancient 
writings  by  burying  them  at  Sippara,  and  it  em- 
phasizes the  probability  that  the  antediluvians  were 
able  to  read  and  write.  In  nothing  is  the  testimony 
of  the  three  great  families  of  man  more  corrobora- 
tive than  in  Deluge  legends.     See  that  chapter  in 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  43 

'^  God  ill  Creation;"  in  Dr.  Cave's  "  Inspiration 
of  the  Bible  ;"  in  Dr.  Fraden burgh's  "  Witnesses 
from  the  Dust,"  and  in  Lenormant's  and  Sir 
Principal  Dawson's  works.  Dr.  Cave  notes  tliat 
Yima,  in  the  Aryan  story,  was  commanded  to  build 
''  wlien  six  hundred  winters"  had  passed  over  him, 
and  that  ''  Noah  was  six  hundred  years  old  when 
the  Flood  broke."  Moreover,  the  Accadians  and 
Lithuanians  confirm  Genesis  in  having  the  rainbow 
as  the  sign  of  God's  returning  favor.  Sir  William 
Dawson  corrects  the  usually  judicious  Schrader,  who 
objected  to  "  the  omission  of  the  swallow,  when 
the  story  passed  over  to  the  Hebrews.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  amusing  instances  of  the  inversion  of  sound 
criticism  which  results  when  unscientific  commen- 
tators tamper  with  the  plain  statements  of  truthful 
and  observant  witnesses.  The  addition  of  the  swal- 
low in  the  Chaldean  version  is  a  mark  of  interpola- 
tion, arising  from  a  local  and  popular  superstition 
attached  to  the  swallow."  Our  chief  business  with 
these  legends  now  is  not  confirmation  of  the  fact  of 
the  Deluge  of  Noah,  but  rather  that  in  his  era,  be- 
fore and  after,  man  could  probably  record  such 
events,  and  record  them  correctly. 

§  Yll. — In  Egypt  and  Babylonia. 

Amenemhat  I.,  of  the  twelfth  dynasty,  wrote 
detailed  *^  Instructions"  to  his  son— the  earliest 
literary  production  of  royalty  that  has  reached  us. 
Writing,  however,  was  exceeded  by  the  skill  which 


44  THE    AVRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

built  the  great  pyramid  of  Khufii  of  the  fourth 
dynasty,  and  the  pyramid  of  Shafra  soon  after. 
They  are  the  most  ancient  remains  of  those  times 
and  reach  back  to  very  near  the  Deluge.  What  skill 
in  engineering  and  the  mechanic  arts  is  implied  to 
raise  such  huge  blocks  of  rock,  nicely  chiselled  and 
fitted  into  a  compact  mass,  in  comparison  with  which 
our  modern  cathedrals  are  but  chapels.  If  Egyptol- 
ogists are  right  in  dating  them  at  about  3300  b.c, 
the  skill  thus  manifested  in  the  morning  of  the 
world  renders  probable  the  truth  of  the  legend  that 
even  before  the  Deluge  men  wrote  out  the  events 
of  their  times. 

Indeed,  there  are  sculjDtures  and  inscriptions  of 
Sneferu's  officers  which  prove  hieroglyphic  and 
picture  writing  of  before  the  year  3000  of  our  era. 
Earlier  still  was  that  second  dynasty  tablet  now  in 
the  Ashmolean  Museum  at  Oxford  ;  while  the 
metaphysical  distinctions  of  man  made  him  to  con- 
sist of  body,  soul,  spirit  or  intelligence,  life,  shadow 
and  name  ;  so  M.  Maspero  and  others.  Miss  Ed- 
wards adds  that  ''the  Book  of  the  Dead  shows 
that  all  these  several  parts  had  to  be  restored  to  the 
man,  and  reunited  before  he  could  obtain  immortal- 
ity." The  subtlety  of  the  classification  is  remark- 
able for  the  period.  And,  says  Rawlinson,  "  No 
rudeness  or  want  of  finish  attaches  either  to  the 
writing  or  to  the  drawing  of  Sneferu's  time  ;  the 
artists  do  not  attempt  much,  but  what  they  attempt 
they  accomplish."     Moreover,  at  Meydoum  and  at 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  45 

Sakkara  are  pyramids  earlier  than  those  of  Khufu 
and  Shafra,  of  whom  and  of  Una  we  find  inscrip- 
tions. Then  of  the  eleventli  and  twelfth  dynasties 
we  have  a  literature. 

A  tomb  of  the  eleventh  dynasty  records  of  the 
dead  reposing  within  it :  ^^1  was  beloved  by  the 
king  more  than  his  nobles  and  officers  in  all  the 
Sonth.  He  caused  me  to  rule  when  I  was  a  mere 
child  of  a  cubit  high.  He  elevated  my  seat  when 
I  still  wore  the  lock  of  youth  ;  he  had  me  taught  to 
swim  with  the  royal  children.  1  was  a  marvel  of 
uprightness  (a  servant),  who  did  no  injury  to  his 
master,  who  had  trained  him  from  a  child.  Siut 
was  contented  with  my  administration,  Heracleop- 
olis  Magna  praised  God  for  me,  IJpper.and  Lower 
Egypt  said,  '  This  is  the  wisdom  of  a  great  prince.'  " 

This  was  in  the  dynasty  before  Abraham,  when 
the  two  Egypts  were  under  one  sovereign,  and  prior 
to  the  Hyksos  domination. 

Another  inscription,  probably  of  the  tenth  dyn- 
asty, says  of  the  Prince  of  Siut  :  *'  1  came  to 
my  city,  I  entered  my  nome  ;  I  did  what  men  de- 
sired, what  the  gods  approved  ;  I  gave  bread  to  the 
hungry,  and  clothes  the  naked  ;  1  listened  to  the 
cry  of  the  widow,  1  gave  a  dwelling  to  the  homeless. 
I  returned  evil  with  good,  and  sought  not  injury, 
in  order  that  I  might  remain  long  on  the  earth,  and 
thence  pass  to  perfection."  Then  a  blessing  is  in- 
voked on  hrs  friends.  ^'  But  every  evil  one,  every 
perverse    one  who  shall  do    the  reverse  of  these 


46  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

things  which  he  has  heard,  his  name  shall  not  re- 
main, he  shall  not  be  bmned  in  the  necropolis-hill, 
he  shall  be  destroyed  with  the  wicked."  See  ''  Re- 
port of  Egypt  Exploration  Fund  for  1888-89," 
and  other  translations  in  it.  These  inscriptions  fit- 
tingly preceded  the  writing  of  Genesis,  and  were 
not  improbably  known  to  Abraham. 

Even  while  revising  these  pages  news  comes  from 
England  of  the  receipt  of  another  collection  of  in- 
scribed tablets  which  were  written  at  different  times 
from  about  2300  to  200  years  b.o.  in  Chaldea. 
Some  of  the  tablets  were  enclosed  in  clay  envelopes, 
on  which  another  copy  is  written.  One  such  pair 
dates  about  2200  e.g.,  and  discloses  the  curious  fact 
that  thus  early  agents  were  employed  in  Babylon  to 
obtain  children  for  adoption  by  wealthy  citizens 
who  had  none  of  their  own.  Those  agents  were 
paid  a  regular  commission  by  the  parents  of  such 
children  and  by  those  who  adopted  them.  The 
humanity  thus  illustrated  is  an  important  feature  of 
the  life  of  those  times. 

Moreover,  we  have  the  mute  speaking  Sphiiix, 
so  wise  in  his  silence,  and  the  Tower  of  Babel, 
either  of  which  necessitated  a  high  degree  of  me- 
chanical skill,  not  far  distant  from  the  era  of  the 
Flood.  Sippara,  on  the  Euphrates,  and  Kerioth- 
sepher,  near  the  Jordan,  were  book- towns  of  great 
antiquity,  and  possessed  a  written  literature.  What 
is  recorded  of  Noah  and  his  sons,  which  lifts  the 
veil  from  his  couch  and  the  curtain  of  his  tent,  is  of 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  47 

a  kind  to  be  written,  not  carried  in  the  memory. 
They  were  not  revehitions  to  the  compiler  of  Gen- 
esis, bnt  were  matters  of  history,  of  legend  and 
tradition,  for  the  instruction  of  men,  who  had  not 
to  wait  six  centuries  for  them  to  be  written. 

The  blessing  upon  Shem  and  Japheth  and  the 
curse  of  Canaan  began  to  be  realized  before  Israel 
entered   Palestine.      Thus  the  words   "  Ham  was 
the  father  of  Canaan"  have  long  been  regarded  as 
true  in  application    to  those    doomed  tribes  who 
found  the  avenger  of  Noah  in  conquering  Joshua. 
The  malediction  and  its  fulfilment,  not  far  apart  in 
our  records,  were  some  two  thousand  years  apart 
in  accomplishment.     And  of  those  two  millenniums 
Father  Abraham  learned  much  of  the  history  from 
the  ancient  tablets  of  Urand  Accad.     The  language 
of   Babylon,   we    are    now  assured,  was  then  the 
language  of  commerce  and    of  international  com- 
munication.    By  it  the  lords  of  Chaldea  and  the 
princes  of  Palestine  could  readily  converse  with  the 
princes  of  Egypt.     Nor  was  Abraham  behind  them 
in  literary  culture.     (See  "  Bible  Growth  and  Re- 
ligion," pp.  44:-61.)     He  certainly  had  no  difficulty 
in  conversing  with  Pharaoh  Usertesen  II.,  who  prob- 
ably reigned  when  he  fled  from  the  famine  of  Canaan. 
Indeed,  the  art  of  writing  is  traced  a  thousand 
years  back  of  Abraham.     While  Mr.  Flinders  Petrie 
describes  papyri  of  the  twelfth  dynasty,  other  writ- 
ten papyri  of  that  era  have  been  found  in  the  Fayum 
excavations.     And  Professor  Sayce  writes  of    an 


48  THE   WRITERS   OF    GENESIS. 

Egyptian  scarab,  with  its  duplicate  of  the  iirst  dyn- 
asty. Upon  examining  it,  he  found  an  inscription 
which  he  renders,  ^'  The  Lord  of  the  North  and  the 
South,  Amu."  Amu  is  a  Semitic  word,  meaning 
''  the  terrible  one,"  the  plural  of  which  occurs  in 
Gen.  U  :  5  ;  Deut.  2  :  10,  11.  There  the  word 
designates  the  Emim,  who  were  then  the  people  of 
that  land,  and  were  so  called  by  the  Moabites,  who 
succeeded  the  Emim  in  possession  of  that  country. 
Dr.  Naville  has  also  found  among  the  inscriptions 
of  Bubastis  the  same  name,  Amu,  which  may  have 
denoted  a  god  at  an  early  period  ;  but  Professor 
Sayce  asks  :  ''  Was  it  the  name  of  an  unknown 
prince  ?"  (The  Academy  for  July  20th,  1889,  and 
for  October  26tli,  1889.)  Whatever  the  word 
meant,  its  being  inscribed  on  a  scarab  of  that  era 
proves  the  remote  antiquity  of  writing,  of  which 
the  tablets  of  Tel-el- Amarna  furnish  additional  il- 
lustrations. Long  before  Abraham  left  Babylonia, 
and  before  he  visited  Egypt,  reading  and  writing 
were  common  in  both  lands.  It  was  the  assured 
way  to  honor  and  wealth.  Children  of  nobles, 
sometimes  children  of  slaves,  were  taught  to  read 
and  write.  There  was  no  difficulty  from  lack  of 
the  required  skill  to  record  the  early  history  of  man- 
kind and  of  God's  dealing  with  them  from  the  days 
of  Seth,  when  men  worshipped  Jehovah  in  public 
assemblies,  to  Noah's  acceptable  sacrifice  and  Abra- 
ham's call  out  of  Ur.  Lenormant  suggests  a  series 
of  revelations  during  that  period. 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAII.  40 

Whatever  the  method  of  instruction,  tlie  teaching 
itself  was  from  above,  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  Thus 
knowledge  of  Creation,  of  Paradise  almost  every- 
where found,  of  Expulsion  thence,  of  a  Promised 
Redeemer,  of  the  Serpent  as  an  evil-worker,  of  Sab- 
bath and  Sacrifice,  of  Immortality,  of  good  and  bad 
Spirits,  and  of  God's  overruling  Providence  for  the 
benefit  of  man— these  ten  elements  of  religion  were 
very  early  known,  and  may  be  clearly  traced  among 
the  three  grreat  races  descended  from  IS'oah.  This 
has  been  done  for  the  general  reader  in  the  little 
book  '^  God  Enthroned  in  Redemption,"  published 
by  Mr.  Whittaker,  New  York.  It  is  certainly 
probable  that  those  primitive  men  recorded  and 
carefully  cherished  their  early  knowledge,  which 
was  divinely  imparted.  In  no  other  way  can  we 
account  for  the  similarity  of  thought  and  action 
among  the  scattered  nations. 

Adam,  Noah,  and  some  other  names  of  early 
patriarchs  have  not  yet  been  deciphered  in  Baby- 
lonian inscriptions  ;  showing  an  earlier  and  indepen- 
dent origin  of  Bible  names  which  were  not  derived 
from  them.  But  we  find  some  names  of  animals 
the  same  in  the  Bible  and  in  India  ;  viz.,  those  for 
elephant,  ape,  peacock  ;  in  Egypt,  kafi  ;  Sanskrit, 
kapi  ;  Hebrew,  kuf  ;  Greek,  kepus  ;  Latin,  cepus. 
So  Conder's  ''Syrian  Stone  Lore."  As  it  is  not 
pretended  that  the  Hebrews  borrowed  from  the 
Hindus,  such  similarity  of  names  would  seem  trace- 
able to  a  connnon  origin  before  separation  from 
the  same  ancestral  home. 
3 


50  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

§  YUl.  — Tower  of  Bahel. 

Not  only  does  the  ethnology  of  Gen.  10  bear 
the  test  of  criticism,  but  we  find  confirmation  of 
the  Tower  of  Babel  and  the  confusion  of  tongues 
in  the  brick  inscriptions.  Early  fragments  of  the 
accounts  have  been  discovered,  which  accentuates 
the  skill  of  the  first  ages.  Compare  Gen.  11  :  1-9 
with  the  '^  find"  which  astonished  Mr.  George 
Smith  in  1875.  Though  torn  from  its  connection, 
it  is  supposed  to  have  been  preceded  by  another 
narrative.  The  fragment  is  rendered  :  ''  Babylon 
to  sin  corruptly  went  ;  small  and  great  were  mingled 
on  the  mound.  Make  strange  their  speech  ;  make 
hostile  their  counsel.  The  King  of  the  holy  mound 
their  work  confounded.  To  their  stronghold  at 
night  they  went  ;  entirely  an  end  he  made.  In  his 
anger  the  secret  counsel  he  declared  ;  to  scatter 
abroad  his  face  was  set  ;  to  confuse  or  make  strange 
their  speech  (the  verb  is  similar  to  the  Hebrew)  he 
gave  command.  The  builders  continued  to  build  ; 
against  the  gods  they  revolted.  Even  the  gods  la- 
mented the  Babylonians.  By  whirlwind  and  storm 
their  work  was  destroyed."  Another  fragment 
reads  :  ''  Against  the  father  of  all  the  gods  was 
wickedness  .  .  .  and  great  he  confounded  their 
speech.  Babylon  is  brought  to  subjection."  Mr. 
George  Smith  also  discovered  cylinders  on  which 
tall  piles  and  the  outline  of  a  god  were  represented. 
There  were  figures  with  outstretched  hands  resting 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  51 

on  tall  piles,  as  if  erecting  tliem,  and  a  god  is  por- 
trayed in  the  company.  The  legend  is  believed  to 
be  identical  with  the  account  in  Genesis. 

But,  very  ancient  as  is  the  tradition,  it  is  not 
alone.  AVhen  the  tablets  were  well  known  and  one 
of  their  two  languages  was  a  living  tongue,  Berosus 
read  it,  and  incorporated  it  into  his  history.  He 
speaks  of  '*  earth's  first  inhabitants  who  gloried  in 
their  strength,  despised  the  gods,  and  undertook 
to  erect  a  tower  wliich  should  reach  to  the  sky. 
It  was  on  the  site  where  Babylon  now  stands.  But 
the  gods  diversified  their  speech  ;  for  till  then  men 
spoke  the  same  language.  By  the  winds  of  Heaven 
their  work  was  overturned.  Whereupon  war  arose 
between  Kronus  or  Saturn,  and  Titan.  From  the 
confusion  of  tongues  thence  arising,  the  Hebrews 
called  the  place  Babel."  A  similar  version  by  the 
Sibyl  is  given  in  Cory's  ^'  Ancient  Fragments,"  p. 
75,  and  see  p.  55.  There  is  also  a  probable  refer- 
ence to  the  Tower  of  Babel  in  the  historic  account 
of  Nebuchadnezzar's  rebuilding  the  great  temple  of 
Bel  Merodach.  He  says  ''  The  earthquake  and  the 
thunder  had  dispersed  the  sun-dried  clay.  He 
changed  not  the  site,  nor  removed  the  foundation, 
but  set  his  hand  to  finish  it  as  it  was  in  former 
times." 

§  IX. — Summary  of  Points. 

Thus,  in  the  early  records  of  God  in  Creation,  in 
similar  religious  ideas  among  the  representative  na- 


52  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

tions  of  early  ages,  in  the  ethnic  history  of  Gen- 
esis, in  Deluge  legends,  tower-building,  speech-con- 
founding, and  primitive  civilization,  we  have  illus- 
trations of  culture  and  education  among  men  ;  which 
imply  the  ability  to  read  and  w^ite  in  the  days  of 
Noah  ;  which  suggest  how  Abraham  learned  the 
knowledge  he  possessed,  and  from  his  known  char- 
acter as  the  chosen  one  to  found  a  new  people  who 
should  preserve  the  true  religion  in  the  world,  mark 
him  out  as  the  Inspired  collector,  reviser,  redactor 
and  editor  of  the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis. 
They  were  written  in  a  form  which  suited  the  men 
of  that  era,  were  calculated  to  further  the  Divine 
purposes,  and  were  adapted  to  the  capacity  of  the 
young  Hebrew  people.  They  were  written  for  a 
Divine  purpose  and  plan,  partly  to  correct  the  then 
polytheistic  notions  which  prevailed  in  Babylonia 
and  in  Egypt,  and  to  teach  that  God  Almighty 
created  tlie  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  was  the 
Creator  and  Preserver  of  mankind.  It  was  not  to 
teach  science  according  to  our  notions  of  science, 
but  to  teach  and  to  unfold  the  origin  of  man,  some 
of  the  accomplished  facts  in  his  past,  and  some  grand 
facts  and  developments  of  his  future.  Both  crea- 
tion and  man — its  crowning  work — were  of  God, 
whose  Providence  still  governed  in  the  affairs  of 
man,  and  whose  educational  and  uplifting  designs 
were  yet  to  be  accomplished  in  a  chosen  nation  for 
the  Iledemption  of  mankind,  and  in  the  final  coro- 
nation of  sanctified  humanity. 


ABRAHAM   TO    JUDAH.  53 

Hence  we  name  Abraham  as  the  compiler  of  the 
first  chapters  of  Genesis,  under  the  Inspiration  of 
God,  while  those  following  were  from  Divine  Rev- 
elations and  personal  experiences.  Hence  we  learn 
the  foundation  of  the  7n{fht  and  the  why  Jehovah 
selected  a  Hebrew  faniilj  to  be  His  chosen  people. 

The  one  objection  to  this  view  of  the  writer  of 
those  first  chapters  is  the  use  of  the  Divine  name 
Jehovah  and  compounding  it  with  names  of  places, 
as  in  Moriah,  Jehovah-Jireh,  and  as  found  in  the 
Creation,  Noachian,  and  Palestinian  accounts.  Nor 
does  it,  at  first  view,  explain  the  so-called  Elohistic 
and  Jehovahistic  portions  of  Genesis.  But  this  is 
because  it  has  been  assumed  that  the  name  Jehovah 
was  not  known  before  Moses. 

It  was  six  hundred  years  from  Abraham  to  Moses, 
and  during  four  hundred  of  those  years  Israel  was 
in  Egypt.  That  was  long  enough,  under  their  con- 
ditions, to  lose  the  precise  theological  knowledge 
which  their  fathers  had  received.  Hence  the  use 
of  the  Divine  name  Jehovah  fell  into  disuse  in 
Egypt,  and  was  given  again  to  Moses  in  Exodus 
S  :  13-18  ;  6  :  3.  But  some  think  that  was  the 
first  revelation  of  it,  though  in  fact  it  may  have 
been  then  thus  given  to  distinguish  Jehovah  from 
the  gods  of  Egypt.  We  notice  the  previous  use  of 
Jehovah  in  Ex.  3  :  2,  4,  7,  of  events  before  its  rev- 
elation in  verse  14.     (See  "God in  Creation,"  p.  61.) 

Moreover,  it  would  derogate  from  the  majesty  of 
the  record  to  substitute  another  word  for  Jehovah 


54  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

in  a  passage  like,  "  I  have  waited  for  Thy  salva- 
tion, O  Jehovah  !"  (Gen.  49  :  18.)  So  of  Joseph, 
it  is  not  simply  a  God  who  was  with  him  in  Egypt, 
but  Jehovah  (39  :  2),  which  is  repeated  in  verses 
3,  5,  21,  23.  Properly  to  his  master's  wife,  Joseph 
nrges  that  it  was  sin  against  God — against  her 
God  as  well  as  his  God,  and  so  Jehovah  is  not 
used,  but  the  general  name  for  God  (verse  9).     In 

28  :  13,  16,  21  Jehovah  again  appears  as  the  Cov- 
enant Lord  of   Israel,   whom  Leah  recognized  in 

29  ;  31,  32,  35.  Nor  was  the  word  used  without  a 
purpose  by  Isaac  in  Gen.  26  :  2,  12,  22,  24,  25,  28, 
29,  seven  times  in  that  chapter.  And  it  seems  to 
be  of  special  significance  as  used  in  chapters  22,  19, 
18,  17,  16,  15,  and  14  :  22,  being  the  name  of  the 
Covenanted  Jehovah,  where  the  God  of  Melchizedek 
is  distinguished  from  the  Jehovah  of  Abraham. 
He  does  not  cast  off  Hagar,  but  His  angel  found 
her  at  the  fountain,  and  bade  her  return  to  her  mis- 
tress (16  :  7,  9,  11,  13).  It  is  hardly  probable  that 
Moses  made  such  changes  in  the  text,  though  he 
might  properly  revise  local  names  and  add  a  word 
of  illustration.  Thus  in  14  :  7,  8,  14,  where  he 
describes  the  country  as  that  of  the  Amalekites,  and 
what  was  ZoarandDan  ;  perhaps  inserting  verse  19 
in  chapter  15,  and  defining  Beer-sheba  in  26  :  33. 
In  35  :  20  he  observes  that  Rachel's  pillar  still  re- 
mained over  her  grave,  and  he  makes  additions  and 
revisions  to  chapter  36  :  11,  12,  15,  16,  42,  43. 
But  we  prefer  to  regard  the  general  record  as  tliat 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  55 

wliicli  was  first  written,  thongli  tlic  modernizing  of 
local  names  improves  tlie  narrative. 

Even  if  we  must  allow  the  change  of  the  Divine 
name  by  Moses  as  editor,  that  is  little  in  comparison 
with  assuming  the  whole  of  Genesis  to  have  been  a 
new  revelation  to  Moses,  whicli  does  not  accord 
with  God's  usual  method  of  not  repeating  Himself. 
And  we  avoid  such  repetitions  by  ascribing  the  first 
Genesis  to  Abraham  and  his  immediate  successors. 
After  Moses,  not  till  Samuel,  perhaps  not  till  Ezra, 
was  another  revision  necessary  for  Hebrew  or  for 
Gentile.  To  Abraham  God  is  revealed  as  the 
covenant  God  ;  to  Moses  the  ritual  of  His  worship 
is  revealed. 

Thus  we  find  sufiicient  explanation  of  the  differ- 
ences in  style,  of  local  names,  of  words  free  and 
flowing,  or  concise  and  rigid,  of  the  scientific,  pro- 
plietic,  narrative,  and  poetic  writing  of  our  Genesis. 

Dr.  Cave  properly  asks,  "  If  Moses  was  the  Je- 
liovist,  who  was  the  Elohist  ?"  And  then  gives 
reasons  for  believing  that  he  was  both.  ''  He  util- 
ized existing  materials  collected  by  a  writer  who 
preferred  the  name  Elohim  for  Deity,  and  he,  there 
is  strong  reason  for  believing,  was  the  Jehovistic 
writer  ;  for  he  might  well  have  penned  his  Eloliis- 
tic  document  a  sufficient  time  before  the  events  at 
Sinai  to  account  for  the  change  of  literary  style,  as 
well  as  of  religious  standpoint."  Yes,  Dr.  Cave, 
he  might  ;  but  did  he  ?  And  does  this  explain 
what  St.  Stephen  said  about  him,  and  what  he  sup- 


56  THE   WlllTEKS   OF   GENESIS. 

posed  his  brethren  understood  of  him  ?  Dr.  Cave 
seems  not  to  aceonnt  for  St.  Steplien,  in  his  able  de- 
fence of  the  Mosaic  authorship.  Bat  we  must  ac- 
count for  that,  and  for  Moses's  first  mistake  and  fail- 
ure. These  are  points  which  strongly  make  for 
Abraham  as  the  original  writer  of  the  lirst  portions 
of  our  Genesis,  while  Isaac,  Jacob,  and  Judah 
wrote  the  succeeding  chapters. 

§  X.  — A  hraham^  s  Memoirs. 

The  patriarch,  having  revised  and  coiTected  what 
Le  had  been  early  taught,  and  incorporated  what 
had  been  revealed  to  him  of  the  Creation  Story  and 
the  primitive  history  of  mankind  in  chapters  1  to 
11,  proceeds,  in  chapter  12,  to  record  his  personal 
memoirs.  Who  but  Abraham  could  write  Genesis 
12  ?  It  contains  the  call  to  him  to  get  out  of  his 
countr^^  from  his  kindred,  and  from  his  father's 
house,  unto  a  land  which  God  would  show  him,  and 
there  make  of  him  a  great  nation.  This  is  a  per- 
sonal communication  which  he  regarded  as  from 
Jehovah.  It  took  him  up  by  the  roots,  so  to  say, 
cut  through  his  affections,  and  implied  manifold 
risks  in  following.  He  was  comparatively  a  young 
man  of  some  sixty  years  when  he  left  Ur.  He 
spent  some  more  years  in  Haran,  where  his  father 
died,  and  in  his  seventy-fifth  year  was  bidden  to 
pass  on  to  Shechem  and  the  oak  of  Moreh.  These 
are  all  matters  known  only  to  Abraham  at  the  lirst. 
But  they  were  so  vitally  important  to  him  that  he 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  57 

could  not  let  them  float  away  into  uncertain  memo- 
ries, and  so  he  duly  entered  the  account  in  his  reg- 
ister. 

But  because  he  added,  to  emphasize  the  peculiar 
fact  of  God's  gift  of  the  land  to  him  and  his  poster- 
ity, ''  And  the  Canaanite  was  then  in  the  land," 
some  hold  that  another  wrote  it  at  a  later  time.  It 
is,  in  fact,  a  time-mark  of  antiquity.  It  was  not 
written  in  Egypt,  nor  at  Sinai,  nor  under  conquer- 
ing Joshua,  but  by  him  to  whom  the  country  was 
promised  when  the  Canaanite  was  in  the  land. 
Abraham  evidently  considered  it  a  proof  of  God's 
purpose  to  put  him  in  their  place. 

Others  have  kept  a  diary  of  events,  even  writing 
down  impressive  dreams.  Here  is  the  root  and 
foundation  of  a  new  and  Eevealed  Religion,  by 
which  the  God  of  heaven  entered  into  covenant  with 
man  ;  a  representative  man,  religious,  intelligent, 
prosperous,  and  with  a  remarkable  opportunity 
opening  before  him — think  you  that  such  a  man, 
having  the  ability  to  write,  would  fail  to  record  and 
carefully  preserve  such  a  Divine  promise  to  him  and 
to  his  seed  ?  Promptly  he  builded  an  altar  unto  the 
Lord,  and  upon  going  to  Bethel  he  built  another 
(verses  7,  8).  As  the  greater  would  seem  to  include 
the  less,  we  infer  that  he  also  wrote  the  account  of 
all  these  matters  for  the  use  of  his  promised  seed, 
through  whom  all  families  of  men  should  be  blessed 
(verse  3).  He  also  records  his  visit  to  Egypt,  because 
of  the  famine  in  Canaan  ;  what  befell  him  there,  and 
3* 


58  THE   WKITERS    OF    GENESIS. 

liis  safe  return,  being  very  rich  in  cattle,  in  silver 
and  in  gold.  It  was  twenty  years  before  the  birth 
of  Isaac.     Lot  also  was  with  him  (12  :  10  ;  13  :  1). 

Surely  these  things  were  not  matters  of  a  later 
revelation.  And  rei3resentations  of  similar  visits 
are  to-day  found  upon  Egyptian  monuments.  Syrian 
nomads  are  portrayed  as  entering  the  Delta  and  ob- 
taining permission  to  pasture  their  flocks  and  herds. 
Even  on  the  tomb  of  an  Egyptian  governor  of  the 
era  of  Abraham  is  represented  a  company  of  Syrians 
coming  to  him  for  permission  to  pasture  their  herds 
in  his  district.  The  reigning  Pharaoh  was  probably 
Usertesen  II.,  of  the  twelfth  dynasty.  One  of  the 
best-known  pictures  of  the  ancient  empire  repre- 
sents the  arrival  of  a  nomad  chief,  with  his  family 
and  dependents,  seeking  sustenance  and  protection. 
They  were  Semites  from  Arabia,  or  Palestine. 
Even  the  name  of  the  chief  is  given,  Abshah,  which 
some  identify  with  that  of  Abraham.  It  at  least 
suggests  that  where  Abshah  was  received  Abraham 
would  not  be  rejected. 

Moreover,  presents  like  those  of  the  Pharaoh  to 
Abraham — viz.,  sheep,  oxen,  asses,  and  slaves,  are 
to-day  found  pictured  on  the  monuments  of  Beni- 
Hassan.  They  mark  an  early  period,  since  after  the 
ass  became  the  emblem  of  Typho  he  would  not  be 
thus  represented  ;  nor  would  they  whose  god  he 
symbolized  give  him  away  to  unbelievers  ;  nor 
would  true  Egyptians  present  to  their  friends  what 
they  regarded  as  emblems  of  the  Devil  ;  for  such 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  59 

in  later  times  the  ass  became  in  Egypt.  This  por- 
traiture, then,  belongs  to  the  time  before  the  Ilyk- 
sos  and  before  the  horse  was  domesticated  in  the 
Nile  land.  It  was  probably  not  known  there  in 
Abraham's  day.  Yet  the  wagons  and  chariots  men- 
tioned in  Gen.  45,  46,  50,  where  horsemen  also  oc- 
cur, show  that  then  horses  were  in  common  use 
in  Egypt.  There  is  an  account  in  one  of  the  oldest 
existing  papyri  of  an  Egyptian  by  the  name  of 
Saneha,  who  went  as  a  fugitive  to  southern  Pales- 
tine, as  a  modern  would  go  to  a  country  of  which 
he  was  suspicious  of  his  safety,  and  was  not  quite 
sure  of  returning.  At  length  he  was  restored  to 
his  friends,  and  gave  the  narrative  of  his  courteous 
reception  and  entertainment,  and  was  himself  pleased 
with  his  welcome  home  again.  (''  Kecords  of  the 
Past,"  vol.  vi.,  pp.  131-150;  also  vol.  ii.  of  2d 
ed.,  with  a  new  translation  by  M.  Maspero). 

Of  chapter  13  there  can  be  no  question  that 
Abraham,  rather  than  Lot,  was  the  writer.  Its  con- 
tents would  not  be  a  revelation  to  Moses.  It  is  his- 
tory. So  of  the  memorable  incidents  in  Gen.  14  ; 
they  were  evidently  recorded  by  its  chief  actor. 
The  supposed  difficulty  in  verse  7,  ''  They  smote  all 
the  country  of  the  Amalekites,"  disappears  if  con- 
sidered as  the  revision  of  Moses.  Amalek  is  here 
first  mentioned,  but  not  by  anticipation,  as  the 
'^  Speaker's  Commentary''  suggests,  nor  as  a  pow- 
erful people  of  uncertain  origin,  so  the  ^'  Concise 
Dictionary  of  Religious  Knowledge, "  but  as  a  later 


60  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

revision  which  described  the  smitten  country  as 
that  which  was  occupied  by  the  Amalekites.  It 
was  the  field  or  country  where  they  dwelt  in  the 
time  of  Moses  or  the  reviser.  They  were  descend- 
ed from  Esau  (Gen.  36  :  16). 

Chapter  14  also  shows  the  mistake  of  Lot.  He 
had  made  his  choice,  and  dwelt  in  the  cities  of  the 
Plain,  when  Chedorlaomer  appeared  and  captured 
him  with  all  he  possessed.  The  details  are  so  ex- 
plicit respecting  names  and  nations  in  Syria  and 
South  Babylonia,  the  number  of  Abraham's  trained 
servants  and  his  allies,  the  way  taken  to  Hobah,  and 
the  rescue  by  a  night  attack  of  all  the  persons  and 
property  that  had  been  carried  away  ;  the  happy 
return,  the  public  thanksgiving  by  the  priest-king 
of  Salem,  the  bread  and  wine  brought  forth,  the 
tithes  paid  by  Abraham,  even  the  little  strategy  of 
the  prince  of  Sodom  in  order  to  gain  some  honor 
for  himself  among  his  subjects,  after  his  defeat  by 
the  marauders,  and  the  refusal  of  Abraham  to  take 
any  share  of  the  recovered  goods  for  his  risk  and 
pains,  save  only  what  the  young  soldiers  had  eaten, 
the  portion  due  to  Aner,  Eschol,  and  Mamre — 
these  are  so  many  marks  of  time  and  circumstance 
as  to  require  a  prompt  record  of  the  particulars  to 
be  made  by  the  chief  actor  in  the  occurrences. 
They  were  not  the  things  to  be  left  to  inspiration 
in  some  later  writer,  but  were  written  out  and 
handed  on  from  Abraham  to  Moses,  or  the  fine  dis-. 
tinction  between  the  El-Elyon  of  Melchizedek  and 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  61 

tlie  Jehovah  El-Elyon  of  Abraham  loses  all  its  point 
(14  :  22).  Pentateuchal  analysts  overlook  its  im- 
portance. See  an  able  paper  by  Rev.  H.  A.  Rog- 
ers in  O.  and  N.  Test.  Student  for  March,  1890. 

The  vision  and  revelation  narrated  in  chapter  15  ; 
the  promise  of  an  heir  other  than  Ishmael,  not- 
withstanding the  prayer  of  his  father  ;  the  gift  of 
all  the  country  round  about  the  Jordan  ;  the  ac- 
companying sacrifice  and  the  attesting  fire,  together 
with  the  dark  unfolding  of  the  servitude  of  his  de- 
scendants for  four  hundred  years,  to  be  followed  by 
judgments  upon  the  oppressors  and  the  deliverance 
of  Israel,  with  the  boundaries  of  the  lands  they 
should  possess — these,  too,  were  recorded  by  Abra- 
ham. They  were  of  such  far-seeing  importance  as 
not  to  be  left  to  the  chance  of  memory  and  erring 
traditions. 

That  it  was  early  attributed  to  Moses  finds  illus- 
tration in  our  English  translation  of  the  Bible,  which 
is  often  attributed  to  Coverdale,  or  Rogers,  orCran- 
mer,  or  even  to  Wycliffe,  or  to  Geneva,  instead  of 
to  William  Tyndale,  to  whom  the  first  half  of  the 
Old  Testament  and  the  whole  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment should  be  ascribed,  with  revisions  by  Cover- 
dale,..  Rogers,  and  later  editors. 

In  Gen.  16  are  family  incidents  and  details  of  a 
character  which  none  but  the  parties  directly  con- 
cerned could  preserve  ;  which  Abraham  could  write 
only  in  part,  and  which  found  a  completing  hand 
in  Judah.     For  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  he  did 


62  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

not  cross  the  track  of  Hagar's  grandchildren.  Those 
shepherds  and  hunters  were  not  strangers  to  one  an- 
other. The  man  who  knew  tlie  children  of  Midian 
also  knew  the  children  of  Ishmael  (37  :  26-28). 
Thus  he  was  competent  to  add  to  the  tribal  history, 
by  gleanings  from  others  of  Abraham's  family. 
Attentive  readers  of  the  Bible  are  often  pained  at 
the  notions  of  those  who  claim  to  find  in  its  narra- 
tive portions  the  same  measure  of  inspiration  as  they 
find  in  its  visions,  its  Divine  Epiphanies,  and  its 
covenant  revelations. 

The  angel's  announcement  to  Hagar  in  regard  to 
her  son,  the  sort  of  man  he  would  be,  and  the  posi- 
tion he  would  occupy  are  not  beneath  the  dignity 
of  history.  It  was  not,  liowever,  a  revelation  to 
Moses.  If  no  other  use  comes  of  knowing  about 
Ishmael,  it  at  least  teaches  the  difference  in  those 
who  were  in  the  line  of  redemptive  preparations 
and  those  who  were  not.  And  it  discloses  the  hu- 
man factors  engaged  therein  :  how  human  impulse, 
if  not  passion,  conduced  to  the  one  great  end  ;  how 
the  pride  of  Sarah,  in  discarding  Ishmael,  prepared 
a  place  for  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem.  Indeed,  the 
free  play  (we  use  the  word  reverently)  of  the  human 
with  the  Divine  marks  the  truth  of  the  story  in 
Genesis,  as  well  as  the  Scribe  who  penned  it  for 
after  ages.  But  they  would  not  be  revelations  given 
four  centuries  later. 

Chapter  17  to  18  :  15  nan-ates  the  institution  of 
circumcision  as  the  seal  of  Jehovah's  covenant  with 


ABRAHAM    TO    JUDAH.  63 

His  chosen  people  ;  how  Canaan  was  bestowed  upon 
tliem  as  an  everlasting  possession  ;  how  Israel  was 
promised  as  the  heir  of  tliat  covenant ;  how  Abra- 
ham was  circumcised  in  his  ninety-ninth  year,  and 
Ishmael  in  liis  tliirteenth  year,  as  well  as  all  the 
men  born  in  his  house,  or  bou^^ht  with  money — 
free-born  and  slave-born  were  circumcised  with 
their  tribal  chief.  They  are  personal  items  of  wide- 
reaching  significance,  and  so  were  faithfully  record- 
ed at  the  time.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  Magna  Charta 
of  Jehovah  renewed  to  Abraham  and  to  the  poster- 
ity of  Sarah  :  in  Isaac  was  the  chosen  race.  Thus 
early  was  Woman's  Rights  certified  by  Covenant. 
Not  in  Ishmael,  not  in  after-born  sons  of  Keturah, 
but  in  the  gentle  Isaac,  the  child  of  Abraham  in  his 
hundredth  year  and  of  Sarah  in  her  ninetieth  year, 
was  the  covenant  to  be  sealed  and  the  nations  to 
be  blessed.  Can  we  doubt  that  records  of  that  Di- 
vine heritage  were  made  at  the  time,  and  by  him 
whom  God  called  out  of  Ur  to  become  its  chief 
human  agent  ?  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  su- 
pernal means  would  be  used  to  perpetuate  or  to  give 
new  accounts  of  what  could  just  as  well  be  written 
and  transcribed  by  human  hands  and  a  truthful 
spirit. 

Thus  was  penned  the  visit  of  the  angels  whom 
Abraham  entertained,  and  who  made  known  to  him 
coming  events,  and  what  God  was  about  to  do  to 
the  wicked  cities  of  southern  Jordan.  That  mem- 
orable appeal  to  the  Divine  clemency,  which  has 


64  THE   WRITERS   OF   GEN"ESIS. 

rendered  the  patriarch  forever  illustrious  as  the  great 
interceder  for  great  sinners,  was  written  soon  after 
it  was  made.  Simple  in  its  grandeur,  it  sets  forth 
the  progressive  steps  in  the  plea  to  save  the  obdu- 
rate :  "If  fifty,  if  lack  of  five  of  fifty,  if  forty, 
and  so  on  down  to  ten" — who  but  Abraham  could 
have  pleaded  so  earnestly  and  so  adroitly  at  that 
time  ?  Who  but  he  could  have  written  it  for  our 
learning?  Then  the  Lord  went  His  way  after  com- 
muning with  Abraham,  and  Abraham  returned  to 
his  place  (Gen.  18  :  33).  Could  such  a  statement  be 
a  revelation  to  Moses  six  centuries  later  ?  While 
the  incident  teaches  a  striking  lesson  touching  God's 
dealings  with  man,  it  has  little  special  relation  with 
Israel,  or  with  later  unfoldings  to  him.  But  the 
judgment  removed  one  set  of  corrupt  people  from 
contamination  of  others.  No  parallel  has  yet  been 
discovered  to  that  famous  pleading. 

§  XI. — Destruction  of  Sodom  in  Accadian  Legend, 

But  of  the  dire  calamity  which  followed,  even  of 
the  deliverance  of  Lot,  though  not  of  his  prayer, 
all  which  are  related  in  Gen.  19,  an  account  is  be- 
lieved to  have  been  found  in  the  Babylonian  in- 
scriptions. We  read  thus  :  '*  An  overthrow  from 
the  midst  of  the  deep  there  came.  The  fated  punish- 
ment from  the  midst  of  heaven  descended.  A 
storm  like  a  plummet  the  earth  overwhelmed.  To 
the  four  winds  the  destroying  flood  like  fire  did 
burst.     The  inhabitants  of  cities  it  caused  to  be  tor- 


ABRAHAM   TO    JUDAH.  65 

merited  ;  their  bodies  it  consnined.  In  city  and 
country  it  spread  death,  and  the  flames  as  they  rose 
overthrew.  Freemen  and  slaves  were  equal,  and 
the  high  places  it  filled.  In  lieaven  and  earth  it 
rained  a  thunderstorm.  Death  overtook  mankind. 
As  for  this  man  [probably  Lot]  there  was  a  loud 
voice  of  the  thunder  [to  warn  him].  The  terrible 
lightning  flash  descended.  During  the  day  it  flash- 
ed ;  grievously  it  fell."  (''  Records  of  the  Past," 
vol.  xi.,  pp.  117-18.)  However  that  inscription 
was  derived,  the  account  originated  with  Abraham 
as  recorded  in  our  Genesis.  The  name  Lot  is  sup- 
posed to  be  found  in  Syrian  inscriptions. 

The  avenging  downpour  of  fire  from  heaven, 
burning  and  consuming  the  earth,  destroyed  a  land 
which  had  been  as  the  garden  of  Eden.  It  is  a  ca- 
tastrophe which  finds  confirmation  in  the  history  of 
the  alhed  chieftains  under  Chedorlaomer.  They 
were  heads  of  tribes  and  principalities  in  southern 
Babylonia.  Nimrod  is  believed  to  have  had  a  suc- 
cessor in  one  of  them,  and  all  of  them  in  their  suc- 
cessors were  merged  and  consolidated  by  Sargon  of 
Agade,  the  list  of  whose  names  and  reigns  was 
found  and  displayed  by  Naram-Sin,  the  son  of  Sar- 
gon, when  hard  pushed  by  his  unassimilated  sub- 
jects. This  list,  thus  composed  and  originating, 
probably  formed  the  long  line  of  350  kings  whom 
I^aram-Sin  claimed  to  have  reigned  before  him  ; 
and  it  has  needlessly  revolutionized  the  old  Baby- 
lonian chronology.     Some  critics  seem  ready  to  ac- 


66  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

cept  any  pretence  for  pntting  dates  and  eras  back 
as  far  as  possible,  as  though  such  change  could 
affect  the  truth  of  history.  Not  only  was  there  a 
beginning  to  historic  times,  but  such  beginning  bore 
some  relation  to  other  and  contemporaneous  ev^ents. 
Sargon  I.  and  his  son  prove  and  illustrate  the  uni- 
fication of  four  or  five  different  lines  of  princes,  who 
w^ere,  in  fact,  contemporaneous. 

Indeed,  the  confederacy  and  expedition  of  Chedor- 
laomer  against  southern  Palestine,  render  the  legend 
of  the  Accadians  concerning  it,  not  only  not  surpris- 
ing, but,  under  the  circumstances,  quite  natural. 
For  the  survivors  could  report,  after  their  defeat  by 
Abraham,  that  those  who  had  rebelled  against  their 
authority  '^  were  destroyed  by  Anu,  who  rained  fire 
upon  them  from  heaven  in  punishment  for  their  re- 
bellion." And  so  great  was  the  importance  at- 
tached to  the  account  of  it,  that  it  is  found  in  "  the 
original  Accadian  text  of  the  tablet  as  well  as  in  the 
Assyrian  translation  of  it"  (Professor  Sayce).  This 
fragment  of  a  very  ancient  tablet,  which  has  been 
preserved  to  our  day,  confirms  Abraham's  account 
of  the  Overthrow  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  It 
was  translated  in  1878,  from  the  ''  Cuneiform  In- 
scriptions of  Western  Asia." 

There  are  eighteen  lines  of  Accadian  and  Assyrian 
text,  written  a  thousand  miles  distant  from  the 
place  of  destruction,  which  disclose  a  contemporary 
record  of  that  catastrophe. 

But  the  ten  verses  which  follow  the  account  in 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  67 

Gen.  19  are  to  be  ascribed  to  Moses,  who  enacted 
the  infliction  of  a  penalty  for  the  sin  there  related, 
and  in  Dent.  23  :  3  forbade  the  descendants  of  Lot 
to  enter  the  assembly  of  the  Lord  to  the  tenth 
generation. 

Properly  enough  such  a  character  as  Lot  drops 
out  of  the  patriarch's  memoirs.  It  would  seem 
that  uncle  and  nephew  nev^er  again  met.  Moses 
may  have  obtained  the  record  of  Ammon  and  Moab 
through  the  family  of  Judah  or  of  Jethro.  He 
certainly  encountered  them  while  on  the  way  to 
Palestine,  when  they  sent  for  Balaam  to  curse 
Israel.  It  was  a  poor  return  for  Lot's  being  twice 
saved  by  Abraham's  interposition  ;  but  the  ingrati- 
tude of  their  father  reappeared  in  his  descendants. 
(See  Num.  22,  23,  24.) 

§  XII. — Some  Domestic  Events. 

The  episode  of  the  patriarch  with  Abimelech  of 
Gerar  in  Gen.  20,  which,  like  a  two-edged  sword, 
cuts 'both,  was  not  derived  from  the  Philistines. 
Nor  was  it  the  sort  of  matter  to  be  revealed  to 
Moses  ;  and  it  bears  every  mark  of  the  record  of  a 
prime  actor  in  it.  Its  ethical  lesson  is  similar  to 
that  of  chapter  12,  and  was  early  incorporated  by 
Abraham  into  his  family  history. 

In  chapter  21  we  have  the  Divine  announcement 
of  Isaac's  birth,  of  his  circumcision  when  eight  days 
old,  his  father  being  then  a  hundred  years  old,  and 
that  Sarah  laughed  for  joy  of  having  Isaac,  whose 


68  THE   WRITERS    OF   GENESIS. 

name  means,  "  he  laughs  ;"  also  the  account  of  her 
wounded  pride  that  the  son  of  Hagar  was  mocking, 
perhaps  quite  playfully,  at  the  pranks  of  the  boy 
when  Isaac  was  weaned.  These  are  things  which 
Abraham  was  the  fittest  person  living  to  enter  in 
the  family  register.  They  are  not  the  matters  for 
special  revelation.  So  of  the  weaning  of  Isaac  and 
the  feast  which  celebrated  that  event,  the  father, 
or  his  scribe,  would  record  it.  Of  Sarah's  increas- 
ing jealousy  of  Hagar  and  Ishmael,  whom  her  pride 
could  no  longer  tolerate  near  her  ;  of  their  expulsioa 
from  among  her  thousand  domestics  ;  of  God's 
word  to  Abraham  touching  the  lad  and  his  mother, 
and  how  his  strong  parental  love  clave  to  his  first- 
born, of  whom  Heaven  promised  to  make  a  na- 
tion ;  of  Abraham's  early  rising  in  the  morning, 
preparing  the  outfit  of  bread  and  a  bottle-skin  of 
water,  perhaps  also  adding  some  silver  current  at 
that  time,  and  then  sending  mother  and  boy  away 
— these  are  just  the  things  which  Abraham  would 
write  down,  so  that  in  the  future  of  his  tw</  sons 
each  would  know  that  their  father  had  dealt  kindly 
by  them.  This  was  attested  later  on  by  Ishmael  as 
well  as  Isaac  attending  the  burial  of  the  patriarch. 
Nor  was  there  any  after  strife  between  those  sons. 

But  the  account  of  the  wanderings  of  the  lad  and 
his  mother  in  the  wilderness  of  Beersheba  ;  of  his 
weariness  and  fainting  ;  of  her  hearing  the  angel, 
who  came  to  answer  the  voice  of  the  lad  whom  God 
had  heard  ;  of  her  seeing  the  water- well  and  refill- 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAU.  69 

h]cr  her  bottle-skin  for  Islimael  ;  of  his  reviving  and 
growing  to  be  an  archer,  and  tliat  Ilagar  took  a  wife 
for  him  out  of  her  own  native  Egypt — all  this  ext7'a 
covenant  history  w^as  probably  collected  by  Jndah, 
or  obtained  from  Jethro,  and  incorporated  by 
Moses. 

With  21  :  22  is  resumed  the  register  of  Abraham. 
The  interview  of  Abimelech  and  Phichol,  which 
ended  in  a  treaty  and  a  present  to  seal  it  with  those 
Philistine  chiefs,  all  joining  in  a  covenant  at  Beer- 
sheba  ;  the  tree-planting,  the  calling  upon  ''  Jeho- 
vah, the  Everlasting  God,  and  Abraham's  sojourn 
in  the  Philistines'  land  many  days,"  are  related  by 
the  patriarch.  It  is  family  history  written  at  the 
time,  and  not  a  new  revelation  to  another,  nor  later 
obtained  from  the  Philistines. 

The  first  nineteen  verses  of  chapter  22,  touching 
the  offering  of  Isaac,  form  one  of  the  most  striking 
episodes  in  the  patriarch's  life.  It  tries  his  faith 
in  God,  proves  his  character,  tests  his  manhood, 
and  illustrates  the  Divine  wisdom  in  the  choice  of 
such  a  man  to  be  the  founder  of  a  new  nation  for 
the  Light  of  the  w^orld.  For  Messianic  prepara- 
tion and  the  instruction  of  the  nations  in  religion, 
it  had  a  wide- reaching  significance.  And  it  was 
Heaven's  prohibition  of  human  sacrifice.  Abraham 
was  tempted  to  sacrifice  Isaac,  and  then  forbidden 
to  do  it,  a  substitute  being  provided  in  a  ram  for  a 
burnt  offering.  The  Divine  manifesto  was  spread 
abroad.     (See  "Bible  Growth  and  Religion,"  pp. 


70  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

58,  80,  81.)  Every  line  of  the  record  was  written 
by  Abraham,  and  every  sentence  of  it  was  graven 
on  his  lieart.  Criticism  is  dumb  before  it.  Analy- 
sis of  it  becomes  reverent  admiration.  It  also 
portrays  the  history  of  the  chosen  race,  when 
condemned  and  scattered  to  the  four  winds  ; 
and  as  Isaac  was  restored  to  his  father,  so  shall 
Israel  be  restored  to  the  favor  of  their  covenant 
God. 

The  last  five  verses  are  a  part  of  the  family  rec- 
ords as  kept  by  his  brother  Nahor  in  Haran,  and 
introduce  the  genealogy  of  Rebekah,  who  became 
Isaac's  wife.  Hence  their  importance  in  the  history 
of  Israel.  It  is  a  reproach  upon  Hebrew  strictness 
in  such  matters  to  suppose  that  such  details  would 
be  neglected. 

And  now  another  trial  befell  the  patriarch.  At  the 
age  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  years,  Sarah, 
the  proud  mother  of  Isaac,  died.  The  account  is  in 
Gen.  23,  and  the  particulars  of  the  purchase  of  the 
field  of  Machpelah  from  the  sons  of  Heth.  The 
treaty  then  made  ;  the  stipulated  price  of  400  shekels 
of  silver  passing  with  the  merchants  of  the  time, 
being  rather  more  than  §200,  but  worth  many  times 
that  amount  now  ;  the  procession  to  the  gate  of  the 
city  to  acknowledge  the  transaction,  like  men  before 
a  notary  public,  or  town  clerk,  to  register  the  transfer 
of  real  estate  to-day  ;  all  was  done  to  ratify  the  pur- 
chase by  Abraham  of  that  field  and  the  cave  in  it,  for 
a  burying   place,   of  the  sons   of   Heth  (23  :  20). 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  71 

The  words,  ''  the  same  is  Hebron,"  v.  2,  was  a 
later  addition.' 

The  care  here  manifested  to  make  snre  the  trans- 
fer of  the  property  thus  pubiicly  bonglit,  was  reason 
enough  for  the  purchaser  to  enter  the  facts  upon 
the  papyrus,  or  prepared  skins  used  for  writing  his 
memoirs. 

It  was  a  princess  who  had  died  after  a  happy 
marriage  of  nearly  a  century.  The  burial  was  with 
due  honor  and  circumstance.  Abraham  and  Isaac 
were  there,  and  the  mourners  of  an  immense  house- 
hold— at  least  twelve  hundred.  It  was  a  most  im- 
pressive event  in  that  family  history.  Here  also, 
in  after  years,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  were 
severally  laid  to  rest,  in  presence  of  a  mourning  as- 
sembly, and  none  ever  disputed  their  title  to  the 
land.  That  is  strong  evidence  of  a  treaty  and  deed 
of  transfer.  And  the  evidence  presented  by  recent 
decipherments  of  the  habit  of  writing  in  Babylonia, 
whence  Abraham  came,  in  Palestine,  where  he  long 
dwelt,  and  in  Egypt,  which  he  visited,  would  reduce 
him  to  an  insignificant  man,  if  he  did  not  record  the 
important  events  of  his  long  career.  The  friend  of 
God  was  not  a  dunce  among  men. 

Inscriptions  show  that  some  of  those  Hittites 
could  wage  successful  war  and  make  enduring  trea- 
ties. It  was  about  the  time  when  Accadian  litera- 
ture was  in  full  bloom  ;  a  century  after  Amenemhat 
I.  wrote  his  "  Instructions"  to  his  son,  probably 
the  earliest  literary  production   of  a  royal  pen  that 


72  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

has  come  down  to  us  ;  it  was  not  far  from  the  story 
of  Saneha's  flight  from  Thehes  to  Palestine,  when 
writing  was  well  known  ("  Ancient  Empires  of  the 
East,"  p.  29;  "  Bible  Growth  and  Keligion,"  pp. 
75,  136-39.) 

In  Gen.  24:  we  have  confirmation  of  this  writing 
habit  in  the  records  concerning  the  sworn  agreement 
between  Abraham  and  his  chief  servant  touching 
the  procuring  of  a  wife  for  Isaac.  With  the  utmost 
solemnity  the  elder  was  enjoined  to  visit  Abraham's 
kindred  in  Haran,  and  there  select  the  destined 
bride.  The  domestic  scene  is  so  minutely  portray- 
ed :  the  daughters  of  the  land  tending  and  watering 
their  flocks  ;  the  recorded  praj^er  of  the  servant  ; 
the  damsel's  courtesy  to  him  and  her  brother's  hos- 
pitality ;  the  announcement  of  the  purpose  of  his 
visit,  attested  by  the  costly  presents  he  had  brought 
and  placed  on  Rebekah  (verse  22);  his  cordial  re- 
ception and  welcome  by  Laban  ;  the  speedy  deliv- 
ery of  his  message  from  Abraham,  with  an  account 
of  his  prosperity,  and  that  he  had  a  son  who  must 
not  come  to  Haran,  but  a  bride  be  taken  to  him 
from  thence — all  which  is  repeated  with  verbal  ex- 
actness ;  compare  verses  4—9  with  34-41  ;  also  com- 
pare 12-24:  with  42-48.  The  servant's  prayer-test 
was  answered.  lie  could  but  ask  that  Rebekah 
should  go  with  him  to  Isaac.  He  was  in  haste,  but 
was  not  precipitate  with  his  errand,  feeling  sure  of 
success.  And  the  consent  of  the  family  and  of  the 
damsel  followed.     Then  other  presents  were  given, 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  73 

vessels  of  silver,  and  jewels  of  gold,  and  raiment 
for  Kebekali,  with  precious  things  for  her  mother 
and  brotlier.  Properly  it  was  left  for  the  damsel 
to  decide  whether  she  wished  longer  time  for  prepa- 
ration, or  would  go  at  once  to  her  new  home.  "  I 
will  go,"  she  said.  Never  was  a  more  speedy  be- 
trothal and  never  a  happier  marriage.  For  they 
all  knew  the  character  of  Abraham  and  were  as- 
sured about  his  son.  So  away  sped  Rebekah  to 
Isaac.  He  was  found  in  prayerful  meditation  in 
his  field  at  the  eventide.  And  Isaac  took  Rebekah, 
and  she  became  his  w^fe. 

Here  are  sixty-seven  verses  of  one  of  the  longest 
chapters  in  Genesis  narrating  scenes  in  domestic 
life  whose  importance  to  Israel  and  the  world  cen- 
tres in  the  fact  that  they  account  for  the  family 
origin  of  the  chosen  people.  They  are  descended 
in  blood  relation  from  the  same  Semitic  tribe.  It 
is  in  Isaac  and  Rebekah,  from  the  same  ancestry, 
that  the  promise  of  Man's  Redemption  was  sealed. 
In  this  grand  fact  alone  centres  our  interest  in  that 
bridal  meeting.  The  dismounting  of  the  bride,  the 
veiling  of  herself  wlien  Isaac  approached,  the  report 
of  the  servant,  and  the  noted  omission  of  a  feast, 
out  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  Sarah — all  this 
marks  the  account  as  made  at  the  time.  It  is  clearly 
narrative  rather  than  the  revelation  of  a  later  age. 
And  the  report  of  tlie  servant,  and  the  prayer  he 
offered,  and  the  answer  of  Rebekah,  were  incor- 
porated into  the  family  history  soon  after  their  safe 
4 


74  THE   WRITERS   OF   GEI^-ESIS. 

arrival  in  the  home  of  Abraham.  They  were  mat- 
ters of  too  much  importance  to  be  relegated  to 
strangers,  and  yet  they  were  not  matters  of  revela- 
tion, but  facts  to  be  recorded.  An  account  written 
some  centuries  later  would  contain  some  errors  :  a 
marriage-feast  would  be  inserted,  and  the  present 
order  of  those  sixty-seven  verses  of  Gen.  24  would 
be  changed.  But  as  they  now  stand,  with  the  part 
of  the  several  actors  at  Haran  and  the  later  home- 
making,  without  a  shade  of  color  derived  from 
Jacob's  experiences  with  Laban  in  after  days,  we 
have  Abraham,  the  chief  servant,  Rebekah  and  Isaac, 
all  parties  concerned  in  a  true  account,  and  attesting 
to  this  part  of  the  family  records  of  the  covenant- 
race.  With  chapter  24  the  personal  memoirs  of 
Abraham  end,  and  Isaac  continues  the  narrative. 

§  XIII. — Jsaac^s  Memoirs, 

These  commence,  we  may  assume,  with  Gen. 
25  ;  1.  Possibly  verses  5  and  6  are  by  Abraham, 
but  the  account  of  Ishmael  and  his  sons  was  given 
by  Judah  (verses  12-19).  The  ' '  gifts"  to  Keturah's 
sons  recall  the  gifts  to  Hagar  ;  compare  21  :  14 
with  25  :  6.  They  included  enough  of  silver  and 
herds  to  enable  the  sons  to  make  a  fair  start  in  life. 
The  half-brothers  never  troubled  Isaac  about  a  more 
generous  share  of  their  father's  property.  This 
would  imply  a  fair  apportionment  upon  the  separa- 
tion. The  patriarch  was  a  rich  man  when  he  left 
Egypt.     "  He  had  sheep,  and  oxen,  and  asses,  and 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  75 

camels,  men  servants  and  women  servants  ;  was 
very  rich  in  cattle,  in  silver,  and  in  gold"  (Gen.  12  : 
16  ;  13  :  2).  His  trained  servants,  born  in  his  house- 
hold, numbered  318  when  he  pursued  and  routed 
Chedorlaomer  with  his  allies.  He  lived  prosper- 
ously after  that  time  for  about  ninety- five  years. 
So  he  must  have  left  a  large  estate,  which  in  these 
days  of  courts  and  surrogates  would  feed  lawsuits 
for  a  generation.  But  the  fair  dealing  of  Abraham 
■was  so  marked  that  no  disturbance  arose  because  of 
Isaac  having  more  than  Ishmael,  or  Midian,  or 
Shuah.  It  suggests  intelligence  as  well  as  nobility 
of  character,  which  provided  an  equitable  division 
of  his  property.  His  learning  w^as  more  than  that 
of  a  prosperous  shepherd  and  chief  of  a  tribe  of 
nomads,  and  he  had  various  accomplishments. 

If  he  was  the  original  of  '^  Father  Orham"  in 
Ur,  and  the  peer  of  any  in  that  place,  or  in  Haran, 
when  he  left  it  ;  if  he  was  treated  as  a  prince  in 
Egypt  by  the  Pharaohs  of  the  twelfth  dynasty  ;  if 
the  kings  of  Canaan  so  treated  him,  and  were  wholly 
indebted  to  him  for  successful  generalship  in  the 
defeat  of  Babylonian  oppressors  ;  if  the  Priest-king 
of  Salem  and  the  King  of  Sodom  blessed  and  hon- 
ored him  ;  if  Abimelech  of  Gerar  sought  his  alli- 
ance and  made  a  treaty  with  him  ;  if  he  was  able  to 
converse  in  their  different  languages  with  the  peo- 
ples whom  he  met  in  Haran,  in  Canaan,  and  in 
Egypt  ;  if,  above  and  beyond  all  this,  he  was  fa- 
vored with  hearing   Divine  voices,  seeing  Divine 


76  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

visions,  and  receiving  Divine  communications,  which 
have  been  carefully  preserved  to  this  day,  then  it 
is  but  just  to  his  memory  to  allow  him  sufficient 
skill  to  keep  his  own  record  of  those  things  in  which 
he  was  a  most  important  actor,  and  so  deeply  con- 
cerned. Among  other  legacies  he  committed  those 
records  to  his  son  Isaac  as  containing  matters 
worthy  of  preservation. 

Moreover,  at  his  death,  Jacob  and  Esau  were  some 
fifteen  years  old,  and  able  to  remember  much  of 
what  their  grandfather  had  told  them.  Chapters 
25  to  28  :  9  narrate  the  additions  made  by  Isaac, 
and  how  the  blessing  of  his  first-born  was  given  to 
Jacob  :  '^  God  Almighty  bless  \h.ee,  and  give  thee 
the  blessing  of  Abraham,  and  to  thy  seed"  (28  :  3,  4). 

This  abrupt  and  unexpected  change  in  the  order 
of  inheritance  in  the  family,  reversing  the  usual 
coarse  in  those  days,  implies  the  existence  of  a  con- 
temporary record.  Certainly,  any  later  and  unin- 
spired writer  would  not  reverse  it  ;  he  would  not 
see  the  reason  for  it  ;  being  the  facts  of  history, 
inspiration  would  not  be  required.  So  this  change 
of  the  younger  for  the  elder  ;  the  bitter  cry  of 
Esau  ;  the  cunning  supplanting  of  Jacob  and  his 
consequent  flight  to  Aram,  though  a  puzzle  to  early 
readers  of  that  family  history,  became  clear  enough 
to  the  inspired  reviser  who  wrote  for  the  chosen 
people  in  the  era  of  the  Exodus.  To  regard  it  as  a 
New  Eevelation  to  Moses  is  to  interpose  a  miracle 
where  no  miracle  is  needed. 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  77 

Moreover,  even  in  the  brief  section  of  the  family 
register  by  Isaac,  the  supernatural  certainly  appears. 
Thus  in  Gen.  26  :  2-5  and  verse  24,  two  Divine 
communications  to  Isaac  are  recorded.  Though 
pressed  by  a  famine  like  that  which  sent  Abraham 
to  Egypt,  Isaac  is  told  not  to  go  down  thither,  for 
the  Hyksos  were  then  conquering  that  land,  and  the 
Divine  covenant  is  renewed  to  him  in  exclusion 
of  all  his  half-brothers.  He  was  to  seek  refuge  in 
Philistine  Gerar.  After  his  return  and  abode  at 
Beersheba,  Jehovah  again  appeared  to  him,  and 
repeated  His  blessing  upon  him  and  upon  his  seed. 
And  Isaac  builded  an  altar  there,  and  called  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord  (verse  25).  The  treaty  agree- 
ment with  Abimelech,  the  feast,  the  digging  of  a 
well,  whence  it  was  called  "  the  well  of  the  oath," 
especially  the  recorded  marriage  of  Esau  to  Judith, 
the  daughter  of  Beeri,  the  Hittite  :  **  Which  were 
a  bitterness  of  spirit  to  Isaac  and  Rebekah,"  could 
be  written  by  no  one  so  well  as  by  Isaac.  Who 
else  would  state  the  inner,  sv\hje(it\vG  feeliiig  of  the 
parents  at  the  marriage  of  their  son — the  self-reliant 
Esau  ?  His  going  later  to  Ishmael  and  taking  his 
daughter  Mahalath  to  wife,  though  intended  to  please 
his  parents,  was  but  an  attempt  to  correct  the  irrev- 
ocable ;  for  he  already  had  two  Hittite  wives  (26  : 
34  ;  28  :  9).  It  was  conduct  which  perhaps  no 
contemporary,  except  his  beloved  father,  would  be 
likely  to  record.  But  with  our  knowledge  of  the 
then  prevalent  habit  of  writing,  attested  by  recent 


78  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

decipherments,  there  can  be  no  objection  to  saying 
that  Isaac  himself  wrote  down  those  matters  at  the 
time.     It  was  his  duty  to  do  so. 

Who  can  read  those  tender,  tearful  words  of  Isaac 
and  Esau  (27  :  32-38)  without  deep  sympathy  for 
both  father  and  son,  as  well  as  the  conviction  that 
they  were  recorded  at  the  time  ?  It  is  the  affection- 
ate conversation  of  disappointed  parental  and  lilial 
love.  It  is  desire  against  destiny.  It  is  the  human 
overruled  by  Heaven.  The  reader  should  study  the 
passage.  So  assured  was  Esau  of  his  father's  affec- 
tion for  him,  that  he  could  not  believe  it  possible 
that  he  had  no  blessing  reserved  for  him  before  he 
died  !  ''  And  he  cried  with  a  great  and  exceeding 
bitter  cry  .  .  .  Bless  me,  even  me  also,  O  my 
father  !  .  .  .  Hast  thou  not  reserved  a  blessing 
for  me  ?  Hast  thou  but  one  blessing,  my  father  ? 
bless  me,  even  me  also,  O  my  father.  And  Esau 
lifted  up  his  voice,  and  wept."  Tlien  his  father 
gave  him  the  blessing  of  earth,  its  fatness,  and  the 
dew  of  heaven,  but  not  the  blessing  of  Jehovah  ; 
and  he  should  serve  his  brother  (verses  39,  40). 
There  is  nothing  superior  to  it  in  love  and  pathos  in 
Hebrew  literature.  Not  a  later  revelation  to 
Moses,  it  was  the  recorded  words  of  Isaac  and  Esau, 
and  was  written  by  the  father  in  the  family  history. 

This  view  is  emphasized  by  what  is  said  of  the  hate 
of  Esau  for  Jacob,  and  his  purposed  revenge  for 
loss  of  the  Divine  blessing.  It  was  told  to  Eebek- 
ah,  who  told  it  to  Jacob,  and  hastened  his  flight 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  i\f 

to  lier  kindred  in  Haran.     ''  Tarry  there  till  thy 
brother's  anger  turn  away  from  thee,  and  he  forget 
what  thoM  hast  done  to  him"  (verses  41-45);  for  he 
was  known  to  be  of  a  generous  disposition.     Re- 
bekah's  words  to  Isaac  in  verse  4G,  containing  her 
reasons  for  sending  Jacol)  to  her  brother  Laban, 
with  Isaac's  charge  to  Jacob  about  taking  a  wife 
from  his  own   kindred,  and  then  giving  him  the 
blessing  of  God    Almighty,   and  the    blessing  of 
Abraham,  to  him  and  his  seed,  which  blessing  God 
gave  to  Abraham  (28  :  1-5),  also  belong  to  the  reg- 
ister of  Isaac,  as  well  as  the  account  of  Esau  in 
verses  6-9.     Here  end  the  memoirs  of  Isaac  ;  to 
which   may  be    added  the    account    of    his  death 
(35  :  27-29).     But  chapter  36  was  by  Judali,  revised 
by  Moses,  giving  the  family  register  of  Esau  and  his 
descendants.     Perhaps  verse  31  was  by  a  writer  as 
late  as  Samuel,   who  added  that  the  list  of  ''  the 
Kings  there  given  of  Edom  was  before  there  reigned 
any  king  over  Israel."     Thus,  all  seeming  difficulties 
in   Genesis  are  cleared  up,  if  we  accept  the  now 
SLppsiV^t  fact  of  a  Divine  revelation  written  out  by 
the  patriarchs,  and  later  adapted  by  the  prophets 
to  the  needs  of  their  age. 

Only  to  distinguish  the  other  branches  of  Abra- 
ham's descendants  from  the  Israelites  is  the  record 
admitted  into  Genesis,  and  also  to  show  that  Job 
and  his  friends  were  of  their  kindred,  though  not 
of  the  covenant  seed  (36  :  10,  15,  28  ;  25  ;  2)  ;  Job 
was  of  Uz  and  an  Esauite. 


80  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

To  suppose  that  a  writing  people,  such  as  we 
know  the  Hebrews  then  were,  did  not  record  im- 
portant events  in  their  family  history,  is  absurd. 
Indeed,  such  exercises  probably  occupied  much  of 
their  leisure.  Those  blessings  of  Isaac  are  unique. 
His  carefulness  in  using  the  Divine  name  marks  him 
as  a  man  accustomed  to  think.  No  late  writer 
would  so  discriminate.  Esau  should  become  great, 
but  not  with  the  spiritual  unfoldings  and  blessings 
of  Jacob.  Nay,  he  should  serve  his  brother,  till  he 
broke  his  yoke  from  off  him  (27  :  38-1:0).  Com- 
pare 36  :  6-8,  "  And  Esau  took  his  wives,  and  his 
sons,  and  his  daughters,  and  all  his  household,  his 
cattle,  his  beasts,  and  all  his  substance,  and  went 
into  the  country  of  Mount  Seir,  from  the  face  of 
his  brother  Jacob."  Their  riches  and  pursuits  re- 
quired a  larger  land  than  Canaan,  in  which  they 
were  but  sojourners  ;  and  Esau  remembered  that 
the  inheritance  of  the  home  estate  belonged  to 
Jacob,  by  his  own  agreement  and  his  father's  will. 
These  are  so  many  indications  of  an  early  record, 
and  also  account  for  differences  in  style  and  lan- 
guage. They  disclose  the  several  authors  of  Gen- 
esis. The  early  patriarchs  were  skilled  in  writ- 
ing, and  taught  it  to  their  sons.  According  to 
Eupolemus,  Abraham  resided  during  his  stay  in 
Egypt  in  the  sacred  city  of  On  or  Heliopolis,  and 
at  that  seat  of  learning  and  religion  he  taught 
the  Egyptians  astronomy  and  arithmetic.  So  Raw- 
linson. 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  81 

§  XI Y.  —The  Memoirs  of  Jacob. 

These  evidently  begin  at  Gen.  28  :  10,  '-'  And 
Jacob  left  Beersheba,  and  went  toward  Ilaran." 
Then  he  gives  the  events  of  In's  journey,  his  won- 
derful dream  of  the  angels  passing  up  and  down  the 
ladder,  and  the  appearance  of  the  Lord  standing 
above  it,  and  identifying  Himself  to  him  as  the 
LoKD,  the  God  of  Abraham  and  of  Isaac.  Then  the 
promise  :  ''  The  land  whereon  thou  liest,  to  thee 
will  1  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed.  It  shall  greatly  in- 
crease and  spread  abroad,  and  be  a  blessing  to  all 
families  of  men."  Notice  verse  15,  ''  And,  behold, 
I  am  with  thee,  and  will  keep  thee  whithersoever 
thou  goest,  and  will  bring  thee  again  into  this  land  ; 
for  I  will  not  leave  thee,  until  I  have  done  that 
which  I  have  spoken  to  thee  of."  As  well  ask  a 
bride  to  forget  her  husband  as  to  suppose  that 
Jacob  did  not  record  that  Divine  promise.  It  made 
such  an  impression  upon  him  that  he  awoke  out  of 
his  sleep,  and  said,  ''  Surely  the  Lord  is  in  this 
place  ;  and  I  knew  it  not."  That  abode  of  God 
and  gate  of  heaven  filled  him  with  fear  and  rever- 
ence. He  rose  early  in  the  morning,  and  set  up  a 
pillar-stone  of  witness,  pouring  oil  upon  it,  and 
vowed  unto  God,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the 
dream,  that  if  God  would  be  with  him,  and  keep 
him  in  the  way  he  went,  and  give  him  bread  to 
eat,  and  raiment  to  put  on,  so  that  he  returned  to 
his  father's  house  in  peace,  then,  he  says,  "  Shall 
4* 


82  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

the  Lord  be  my  God,  and  this  stone,  set  np  for  a 
pillar,  shall  be  God's  house  :  and  of  all  that  Thou 
givest  me  I  will  surely  give  a  tenth  unto  Thee" 
(verses  16-22).  Such  important  details  were  not 
long  left  to  memory,  and  the  change  of  name  from 
Luz  to  Beth-el  emphasized  the  importance  of  the 
vision  and  covenant.  It  explained  that  not  in  Ish- 
mael,  not  in  Esau,  but  in  Jacob  was  the  line  of  de- 
scent of  the  people  of  Jehovah. 

Abraham  was  given  to  understand  it  in  his  hun- 
dredth year  ;  Isaac  was  given  to  understand  it  in 
his  twofold  blessing  of  his  sons  ;  and  now  Jacob, 
who  had  been  rather  sharp,  through  his  mother's 
instigation,  in  dealing  with  Esau,  is  enabled  to  un- 
derstand that  it  was  not  by  any  act  of  his  own, 
though  accepted  by  his  brother,  but  by  this  prom- 
ise and  renewal  of  covenant  by  God  Himself  with 
him,  that  he  is  appointed  the  head  of  his  tribe  and 
the  blessed  of  Heaven.  It  was  a  transaction  which 
concerned  him  and  his  descendants,  and  which  he 
carefully  wrote  out  for  them.  They  were  not  mat- 
ters for  later  revelation,  nor  to  be  gathered  from 
varying  traditions,  but  were  duly  entered  in  the 
family  register  by  its  newly  appointed  chief.  While 
in  Laban's  service,  Jacob  had  opportunity  for  lit- 
erary exercises,  and  the  skill  he  displayed  in  after 
times,  up>on  his  return  home,  while  dwelling  in 
Shechem,  and  when  he  stood  before  Pharaoh  and 
'^blessed  him,"  indicating  his  feeling  of  equality 
with,  if  not  his  superiority  over  the  Egyptian  king 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  83 

— all  tin's  indicates   capacity  and    mental   training 
which  easily  includes  the  ability  to  write. 

Who  but  Jacob  could  write  Gen.    28  :  10-22  ? 
Who  but  the  lover  of  Kachel,  who  kissed  her  at  the 
well,  and  would  not    be    content  with    her    sister 
Leah,  could  write  chapter  29  :  1-35,  making  Judah 
the  son  of  Leah,  but  not  of  Rachel  the  beloved  ? 
Surely  if  internal  evidence  has  any  weight  in  this 
matter,    it   carries   the   proof   of  contemporaneous 
authorship  on  the  face    of  the  record.     Our  text 
makes  the  two  most  prominent  names  and  charac- 
ters in  the  after  history  of  Israel  to  be  the  sons  of 
the  less  loved  Leah.     Levi  and  Judah  were  her 
sons.     It  is  evidence  of  a  Divine  purpose  overrul- 
ing  human  choice  and  affection  ;  a  purpose  seen  in 
the  appointment   of  Isaac  instead  of   Ishmael,   of 
Jacob  instead  of  Esau,  and  of  the  sons  of  Leah  in- 
stead of  Rachel's  beloved  boys.     Such  unexpected- 
ness marks  alike  the  origin  and  the  inspiration  of 
the  account.     For  nothing  but  God's  guidance  of 
later  copyists  of    these  records  would  allow  it  to 
stand  as  we  find  it.     The  best  days  of  Israel  were 
marked  by  reverence  for  her  priests,  and  her  golden 
age  was  full  of  the  praises  of  David,  yet  her  ancient 
writings  recorded  that  Judah  and  Levi  were  the 
sons  of  the  less  loved  but  first  wife  of  Jacob.     So, 
in  the  face  of  all  learned  criticism  of  these  annals, 
it  is  safe  to  afiirm  that  no  later  writer,  when  the 
priests  were  powerful  and  David  was  king,  would 
have  failed  to  represent  Levi  and  Judah  as  the  sons 


84  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

of  the  best  loved  Rachel.  That  the  text  makes 
them  the  sons  of  Leah  stamps  its  origin.  That, 
amid  all  the  changes  in  dynasty  and  ritual  after 
Solomon,  the  text  remained  and  remains  to  our  day, 
making  Levi  and  Judah  Leah's  sons,  seals  alike  its 
inspired  truthfulness  and  its  Divine  preservation. 
Jacob  first  wrote  it  in  his  family  register. 

The  entire  contents  of  chapter  30  are  also  by 
Jacob.  In  31  :  1,  2,  we  find  additional  proof  : 
''  Jacob  heard  the  words  of  Laban's  sons,  saying, 
he  hath  taken  away  all  that  was  our  father's.  .  .  . 
And  Jacob  beheld  the  countenance  of  Laban  .  .  . 
it  was  not  toward  him  as  formerly."  These  are 
the  observations  of  a  contemporary  recorder  of 
what  he  saw  and  heard.  But  verse  3  is  a  Divine 
revelation  :  **  The  Lord  said  unto  Jacob,  Return 
unto  the  land  of  thy  fathers,  and  to  thy  kindred  ; 
and  I  will  be  with  thee."  He  proceeds  at  once  to 
arrange  for  his  return  ;  he  had  a  joint  interview 
with  Rachel  and  Leah,  and  recounted  his  griev- 
ances ;  he  also  told  them  of  God's  appearances  to 
him  at  Beth- el  and  more  recently.  And  Rachel 
and  Leah — the  order  of  names  marks  the  record  as 
Jacob's,  placing  the  best  loved  first — answered.  Is 
there  any  portion  or  inheritance  for  us  in  our  father's 
house  ?  Are  we  not  counted  of  him  strangers  ? 
There  was  nothing  in  the  after-history  of  Laban's 
immediate  descendants  which  provoked  the  hostil- 
ity of  Israel,  and  so  only  its  truth  could  have  in- 
duced a  contemporary  writer  to  detail  these  partic- 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  85 

iilars  so  disparaging  to  Laban.  So  also  were  the 
blending  of  the  human  with  the  Divine  in  the  flight 
of  Jacob  and  the  pursuit  after  him  (verses  22-30). 
with  loss  of  his  gods — probably  images  of  the  Moon- 
god,  who  was  worshipped  in  llaran  (verses  30-35). 

Jacob's  indignation  at  Laban 's  charging  him  with 
stealing  his  gods,  or  the  teraphim  with  which  he 
worshipped,  could  not  have  been  invented  by  any 
late  historian  of  Israel.  Under  Judges  like  Gideon 
and  Jephthah  such  conduct  would  cause  no  surprise. 
In  the  account  of  Micah,  the  Ephraimite,  and  of 
the  Danites,  who  despoiled  him  at  once  of  priest  and 
ephod,  images  and  teraphim,  we  find  an  aggravated 
parallel.  While  after  Solomon,  who  built  chapels 
for  the  use  of  his  foreign  wives  in  the  worship  of 
their  gods,  no  writer  would  invent  the  just  indig- 
nation of  Jacob,  who  had  so  recently  heard  God 
speaking  to  him.  The  passage  is,  therefore,  a  time- 
mark  of  ancient  authorship,  and  suggests  that  the 
accused  Jacob  was  its  writer.  Compare  Gen.  31  : 
22-42  ;  Jud.  8  :  24-28  ;  11  :  1-40  ;  17  ;  18  ;  1 
Kings  11  :  1-10. 

So  Gen.  31  :  43-55,  stating  Laban's  claim  as  the 
father  of  his  daughters  to  their  children,  and  to  all 
that  Jacob  had  with  them,  even  his  cattle,  and  all 
born  unto  him,  would  appear  absurd  to  a  Hebrew 
after  Moses,  whose  legislation  made  each  father  the 
head  of  his  family,  his  wife  being  adopted  into  the 
family  of  her  husband.  I  indeed  marvel  that  men 
of  learning  should  overlook  such  time-marks  of  au- 


86  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

thorship.  None  but  Jacob  could  have  penned  the 
account  of  the  treaty-making,  where  "  no  man  was 
witness"  (verse  50)  ;  but  God  was  witness,  the  pil- 
lar-heap was  witness,  and  their  mutual  oath  was 
witness.  While  the  invocation  of  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, and  the  God  of  Nahor,  as  their  God,  was 
pi'oper  for  the  time,  yet  that  Jacob  should  ''  swear 
by  the  Fear  of  his  father  Isaac, ' '  and  then  ' '  offer 
sacrifice  upon  the  mount"  is  unique  and  original, 
of  high  antiquity,  and  not  according  to  the  law  of 
Moses  (verses  53,  54).  The  good-by  in  verse  55 
is  the  record  of  Jacob. 

Moreover,  Jacob  alone  could  write  chapter  32. 
The  vision  of  angels  at  Mahanaim,  the  name  he 
gave  to  the  place  where  he  saw  the  hosts  of  heaven 
in  readiness  to  help  him  ;  his  message  to  Esau,  the 
exact  number  and  names  of  the  presents  to  him, 
also  the  number  of  his  brother's  escort,  with  the 
feelings  the  news  caused  in  Jacob  ;  his  dividing  his 
flocks  and  belongings  into  two  bands,  so  that  if 
smitten,  one  party  might  escape,  suggest  the  pru- 
dence of  the  maker  of  the  second  bargain  with  Laban, 
and  of  the  vow  at  Beth-el.  Even  his  prayer  to  the 
God  of  his  fathers  is  characteristic  ;  it  is  part  bio- 
graphical, part  reminiscent,  and  part  petition  (32  : 
9-12).  No  one  but  Jacob  could  write  that  prayer. 
He  also  wrote  verses  13-23.  So  of  that  memorable 
vision  at  Peniel  (verses  21-30),  whose  name  means 
*^  the  face  of  God,"  where  alone  with  a  Divine 
Person  Jacob  wrestled  during  that  anxious  night 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  87 

and  obtained  his  desire,  wlien  he  was  left  with  a 
blessing  and  a  mark — who  but  the  wrestler  himself 
could  write  it  ?  Whether  in  vision  or  in  essence, 
Jacob  believed  that  he  there  saw  God,  and  though 
his  life  was  preserved,  yet  he  ever  afterward  bore 
about  the  Divine  mark  (verse  31).  J>ut  verse  32 
was  by  a  later  copyist  and  reviser.  Chapters  33 
and  34  were  by  Jacob,  who  had  personal  knowl- 
edge of  all  therein  related.  The  return  to  Beth-el 
in  chapter  35,  and  the  building  of  an  altar  there, 
another  appearance  of  God  to  him,  proving  Him- 
self by  recalling  His  former  appearance  when  Jacob 
fled  from  his  brother,  and  again  blessing  him,  and 
changing  his  name  to  Israel,  and  the  promise  to 
give  that  land  to  him  and  to  his  seed  after  him,  and 
the  consecrated  pillar  set  up  in  memorial  of  it — this 
was  the  record  of  Jacob  of  those  striking  incidents 
at  Luz,  which  he  called  El-beth-el,  because  God 
there  appeared  to  him  (35  :  7). 

There,  too,  Rebekah's  nurse,  Deborah,  died  (verse 
8),  she  who  had  watched  over  him  from  infancy, 
and  she  was  buried  at  the  oak  of  weeping  in  Beth-el. 
Who  but  this  chief  among  his  contemporaries  would 
so  honor  his  old  nurse  at  Beth-el,  and  enroll  her 
name  in  the  register  of  his  family  ?  Later  in  the 
history  she  would  have  been  buried  without  the  city 
walls,  without  the  town  limits,  but  this  ancient 
record  makes  her  remains  interred  beneath,  or  close 
to  the  oak  of  the  sanctuary.  It  proves  the  origin 
and  antiquity  of  these  memoirs. 


88  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

Then,  while  on  the  way  from  Beth- el  to  Ephrath, 
beloved  Eachel,  with  the  birth  of  Benjamin,  the 
son  of  his  right  hand,  died,  and  was  buried.  And 
Jacob  set  a  pillar  upon  her  grave  ;  and  there  it  re- 
mained when  a  later  writer  copied  the  record  of 
Jacob  (verse  20).  The  rest  of  the  chapter  was  also 
by  Jacob,  who  had  not  then  learned  to  write  his 
name  Israel,  reverently  shrinking  from  using  the 
Divine  name  in  it  (viz.,  El,  verse  22,  last  sentence, 
and  verse  29).  But  verse  21  and  first  four  fifths  of 
22  may  have  been  by  a  later  hand.  Significant  is 
the  statement  in  verse  29,  And  Isaac  gave  up  the 
ghost,  and  died,  being  old  and  full  of  days.  And 
his  sons  Esau  and  Jacob  buried  him.  The  placing 
of  Esau  before  Jacob  shows  the  writing  to  be 
Jacob's.  E'o  later  writer  would  have  done  it  ;  and 
with  it  the  Memoirs  of  Jacob  merge  into  those  of 
Judah. 

§  XV. — Memoirs  of  Judah. 

On  page  Y9  I  have  assigned  chapter  36,  except 
verse  31,  to  Judah  ;  verse  31  may  have  been  added 
by  Samuel,  who  studied  and  copied  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures.  The  chapter  itself  narrates  the  genesis 
of  the  Edomites  as  descended  from  Esau,  who  was 
superseded  by  his  brother  Jacob,  as  the  heir  to  the 
Divine  covenant,  and  the  grand  figure  in  it.  Per- 
haps Esau  wrote  the  original  sketch,  which  was  filled 
out  and  rearranged  by  Judah,  and  thus  handed  down 
to  Moses.     It  concerns  the  cousins  of  Israel  through 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH,  89 

Esan,  and  contains  notliing  opposed  to  our  view  of 
the  original  writers  of  Genesis. 

But  chapter  37  is  a  different  writing.  It  intro- 
duces the  matchless  story  of  Joseph  and  his 
brethren,  thus  preparing  for  the  going  down  to 
Egypt.  It  recounts  Divine  providences  and  over- 
sight, the  feeding  of  Hocks,  the  dislike  of  Joseph, 
and  the  selling  him  by  his  brothers  to  the  Midian- 
ites,  who  were  their  cousins  in  descent,  and  of 
whose  origin  we  read  in  chapter  25.  Some  parts  of 
the  story  were  revelations  from  God,  some  were 
known  to  one  brother,  some  to  another,  some  to  all 
the  twelve'  and  to  Jacob.  The  time  of  these  oc- 
currences may  be  assigned  to  the  era  of  the  Hyksos, 
who  were  making  their  conquests  in  Egypt  when 
Isaac  was  told  not  to  go  there,  and  the  writer  of 
them  was  Judah,  the  fourth  son  of  Jacob  and  Leah. 

The  evidences  of  reading  and  writing  then  are 
conclusive,  and  Judah  had  equal  opportunities  with 
any  of  his  brethren.  In  chapter  37  he  figures  as 
the  adviser  of  his  brothers,  while  chapter  38  tells 
of  his  signet  ring  and  bracelets.  He  was  probably 
the  recognized  Scribe  of  the  tribes,  and  then  about 
forty  years  old. 

That  Judah  had  a  commanding  influence  over 
his  brothers  is  seen  in  37  :  26,  27  ;  and  he  inter- 
poses for  thein  with  his  father  in  43  :  8-10  ;  while 
in  44  :  14,  16,  18-34,  he  addresses  Joseph  on  their 
behalf.  After  Joseph  made  himself  known  to  his 
brethren,  and  sent  for  his  father  to  come  down  to 


90  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

Egypt,  tlien  Jacob  commissioned  Judah  to  go  be- 
fore, and  prepare  for  him  in  Goslien  ;  the  Septu- 
agint  reads  ''at  the  city  of  Heroes,  in  the  land  of 
Eameses  (40  :  28  ;47: 11).  Nor  is  it  straining  a  point 
in  the  narrative  to  say  that  as  it  is  the  records  of 
Judah  we  are  reading,  who  does  not  give  tlie  name  of 
the  agent,  the  "  one"  who  told  Joseph  that  his 
father  was  sick  was  Judah,  and  the  "  one"  who 
told  Jacob  that  Joseph  was  coming  to  see  him  was 
Judah  (48  :  1,  2).  So  in  the  grand  benediction  of 
the  patriarch  he  said  :  ' '  Judah,  thy  brethren  shall 
praise  thee  :  thy  hand  shall  be  in  the  neck  of  thine 
enemies  ;  thy  father's  children  shall  bovv  down  be- 
fore thee."  Then,  very  poetically,  he  compares 
him  to  a  lion  for  strength  and  leadership,  and  de- 
clares by  prophetic  inspiration,  "  A  sceptre  shall 
not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  or  ruler's 
staff  from  between  his  feet,  until  he,  Shiloh,  come, 
and  he  shall  have  the  obedience  of  the  peoples." 
As  a  sign  of  royalty,  "  he  shall  wash  his  garments 
in  wine,  and  his  clothing  in  the  blood  of  grapes." 
Professor  Briggs  interprets  it,  "  Judah  will  assume 
the  leadership  of  Israel,  and  lead  the  nation  in  its 
march  until  they  obtain  their  inheritance"  ("  Mes- 
sianic Prophecy,"   p.  96). 

Gen.  49  :  8-12  has  been  translated  in  theEevised 
Version  by  some  twenty-iive  of  the  best  Hebrew 
and  Greek  scholars  in  England  and  America,  and 
compared  with  the  Septuagint  version  made  three 
centuries  before  any  Christian  controversy.     They 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  91 

agree  in  assigning  the  sceptre  to  Judali  until  Mes- 
siah come,  He  whose  riglit  it  is,  who  has  the  obedi- 
ence of  the  peoples.  At  Shiloh  the  tabernacle  was 
set  up,  and  the  wanderings  of  Israel  ceased  for 
seven  hundred  years.  But  while  Judah  led  the 
tribes  to  conquest  and  the  inheritance  of  their  prom- 
ised lands,  he  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  held  the 
ruler's  staff  before  David  was  enthroned  as  King  of 
Israel.  Not  till  then  may  royal  prerogatives  be  at- 
tributed to  him,  when  he  could  wash  his  garments 
in  wine,  and  his  clothes  in  the  blood  of  grapes,  and 
his  teeth  be  white  with  milk. 

The  whole  blessing  of  Jacob  has  especial  reference 
to  the  positions  of  his  sons  in  Canaan  ;  to  the  reg- 
nancy  of  Judah,  the  abode  of  Zebulon  and  Dan, 
and  the  character  of  Benjamin.  After  the  return 
from  Exile  Judah  was  the  representative  and  gov- 
erning tribe  amid  various  fortunes  down  to  Herod 
the  Great.  To  David's  son  and  Lord  shall  the  gath- 
ering of  the  peoples  be. 

Only  some  such  view  of  the  history  and  the  text 
is  an  adequate  exposition  of  what  Jacob  by  the 
prophetic  spirit  so  grandly  uttered.  But  to  make 
Judah's  supremacy  begin  and  end  with  arrival  at 
the  place  Shiloh  is  to  descend  from  the  heights 
of  heaven  to  the  depths  of  earth,  and  to  bestow 
upon  him  very  inconspicuous  honor.  Whatever 
the  word  Shiloh  means,  the  related  verses  de- 
mand an  adequate  explanation.  There  surely  was 
no  royalty  ascribed  to  Judah  at  Shiloh.     Not  till 


92  THE    WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

David  and  his  sons  does  it  find  sufficient  realiza- 
tion. 

The  passage  Gen.  49  :  57  is  evidence  that,  at 
that  time,  Levi  had  not  been  set  apart  as  the  priestly 
tribe  of  Israel,  which  came  to  pass  under  Moses. 
Yerse  10  looked  beyond  Egypt,  beyond  Shiloh,  to 
where  the  praises  of  Jehovah  ascended  from  Zion. 

As  Judah  was  present  at  the  death  of  his  father, 
and  attended  his  burial  in  the  field  of  Machpelah, 
he  had  personal  knowledge  of  all  that  occurred. 
He  witnessed  Joseph's  tearful  kiss  of  the  departed, 
and  was  one  of  the  mourners  for  seventy  days. 
Probably  he  was  the  '^  messenger"  sent  by  his 
brethren  to  Joseph,  after  the  return  from  Canaan, 
to  arrange  respecting  their  future  in  Egypt,  or  pro- 
posed departure  from  it  (50  :  15-22).  The  record 
also  implies  that  Judah  survived  Joseph.  And  it 
connects  itself,  so  to  say,  with  Ex.  13  :  19  :  ''  Moses 
took  the  bones  of  Joseph  with  him  ;  for  he  had 
straitly  sworn  the  children  of  Israel,  saying,  God 
will  surely  visit  you  ;  and  ye  shall  carry  up  my 
bones  away  hence  with  you."  So  Jacob  command- 
ed in  Gen.  50  :  25. 

Thus  we  find  a  duly  appointed  and  competent 
Scribe,  who  was  also  the  recognized  chief  of  the 
tribes.  How  soon  Judah's  official  writing  began 
may  be  inferred  from  the  narrative.  The  blow  at 
the  loss  of  Joseph  was  so  severe  upon  Jacob,  that 
he  gave  up  all  interest  in  life  ;  he  rent  his  clothes, 
put  on  sackcloth,  and  mourned  for  his  son  many 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  93 

days.  His  other  sons  and  daughters  vainly  tried  to 
comfort  him  ;  but  he  refused,  saying,  For  1  will  go 
down  into  the  grave  unto  my  son  mourning  (37  :  34, 
35).  Wherefore  Judah  took  up  tlie  pen,  added 
chapter  37  to  the  family  history,  and,  of  course, 
wrote  chapter  38.  He  only  could  write  it.  And 
he  learned  from  his  father  all  the  traditions  of  the 
chosen  race,  the  interview  with  Esau,  and  the  later 
interview  with  Pharaoh.  His  genius  and  capacity, 
his  opportunities  and  recognized  leadership  under 
his  father,  alike  designate  Judah  as  the  official  Scribe 
of  the  Tribes. 

Even  when  his  sons  brought  him  the  glad  tidings 
that  Joseph  was  yet  alive,  Jacob's  heart  almost 
misgave  him  whether  he  could  go  down  to  Egypt. 
He  was  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  old. 
''  And  God  spake  unto  Israel  in  the  visions  of  the 
night,  and  said,  Jacob,  Jacob  !  And  he  said,  Here 
am  I.  And  God  said,  I  am  the  God  of  thy  father  : 
fear  not  to  go  down  into  Egypt  ;  for  I  will  there 
make  of  thee  a  great  nation.  I  will  go  down  with 
thee  into  Egypt  ;  and  I  will  surely  bring  thee  up 
again  :  and  Joseph  shall  put  his  hand  upon  thine 
eyes"  (Gen.  46  :  2-4).  For  thirteen  years  hope- 
less and  depressed,  this  vision  comforted  and  re- 
assured him.  He  could  now  leave  the  land  of  his 
fathers  and  seek  a  new  home  with  his  beloved  son 
in  Egypt.  He  told  the  Divine  communication  to 
his  sons,  and  Judah  wrote  it  in  his  memoirs.  It 
certainly  was  not  a  revelation  to  Moses  ;   and  no 


94  THE   WKITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

uninspired  writer  would  have  applied  it  to  Jacob. 
Ordinary  men  would  have  hastened  to  the  long-lost 
son  as  soon  as  iaformed  of  his  abode  and  pros- 
perity ;  that  Jacob  hesitated  marks  the  antiquity  of 
the  incident  and  Judah's  record  of  it. 

Next  to  Joseph  he  is  the  most  conspicuous  char- 
acter in  that  inimitable  story,  and  probably  received 
from  his  distinguished  brother  those  parts  of  it  in 
which  he  himself  was  not  an  actor  or  observer.  So, 
while  the  several  portions  may  be  regarded  as  a 
joint  contribution  to  the  narrative,  it  was  Judah 
who  arranged  and  moulded  that  historic  gem  which 
is  the  delight  of  the  young  and  the  admiration  of 
all  ages.  As  it  became  known  among  the  Egyp- 
tians, it  found  at  least  one  imitator,  whose  version 
has  come  down  to  us.  (See  ""  Tale  of  Two  Broth- 
ers," in  Brugsch's  ^'  Egypt  Under  the  Pharaohs," 
vol.  i.,  pp.  309-11  ;  ''Kecords  of  the  Past,"  vol. 
vi.,  pp.  151-56).  Of  the  residence  in  Egypt  we 
have  only  glimpses  of  its  commencement  and  its 
close,  but  no  history. 

Such  were  the  records  from  which  Moses  learned 
the  history  of  his  people  ;  and  from  the  Divine 
promise  to  Abraham  he  supposed,  according  to  St. 
Stephen,  that  God,  by  his  hand  would  deliver  them. 
I  see  no  other  way  of  understanding  all  the  facts 
presented.  The  records  had  been  written  he/ore 
Moses,  and  he  learned  the  national  history  and  the 
Divine  purpose  from  them.  What  else  was  he 
doing  during  the  ten  years  before  his  hasty  action 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  05 

and  sudden  flight  but  studying  the  annals  of  his 
race  ? 

He  had  the  leisure  and  the  means  to  procure  a 
complete  copy  of  all  the  records  of  his  people.  St. 
Stephen  suggests  they  were  known,  and  Moses's 
conduct  implies  the  same.  He  certainly  was  famil- 
iar with  them,  and  probably  carried  them  with  him 
into  exile.  I  am  also  disposed  to  think  that  he  re- 
wrote and  perhaps  embellished  them,  adding  here 
and  there  a  word  of  explanation.  Quite  likely  he 
was  inspired  to  enlarge  the  first  portions  and  to  in- 
corporate some  things  which  he  learned  from  Jethro. 
But  however  much  or  little  his  revision,  as  we  are 
not  told  of  an  appointed  successor  to  Judah  as  the 
Scribe  of  the  Tribes,  it  is  to  Moses,  as  an  author- 
ized agent,  that  the  Book  was  early  attributed  ; 
from  him  it  was  received  by  Israel,  after  his  Divine 
commission  as  the  leader  and  lawgiver  of  his  peo- 
ple. The  supernatural  and  the  inspired  are  woven 
into  its  texture  ;  Divine  revelations  and  family 
events  compose  its  substance,  the  Book  being  an 
Eclectic  History  of  the  early  ages  of  mankind  and 
a  Contemporary  History  of  the  Chosen  People. 
For  Abraham  wrote  his  chapters,  not  for  the  chil- 
dren of  Lot,  nor  for  the  children  of  Nahor,  but  for 
the  seed  of  Isaac  ;  Isaac  wrote  not  for  Esau,  nor 
for  Ishmael,  bnt  for  Jacob  ;  Jacob  wrote  for  his 
sons  ;  while  Judah  wrote  for  Israel,  and  Moses 
wrote  and  revised  for  Israel  and  the*world. 

After  the  death  of  Moses  and  of  Joshua  the  tribe 


96  THE   WRITERS   OF   GEN"ESIS. 

of  Judah  takes  its  appointed  place  as  leader  of 
Israel  :  Tliey  asked  of  the  Lord,  Who  shall  go  up 
for  us  first  against  the  Canaanites  ?  And  the  Lord 
said,  Judah  shall  go  up  ;  behold,  I  have  delivered 
the  land  into  his  hand  (Judges  1  :  1,  2).  Moreover, 
after  the  rejection  of  Saul,  who  was  of  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin,  David,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  was 
anointed  King.  And  notwithstanding  the  Disrup- 
tion of  the  Kingdom  under  his  grandson,  the  fam- 
ily of  David  continued  to  reign  down  to,  if  not,  in- 
deed, long  after  the  Captivity.  The  sceptre  did 
not  really  depart  from  Judah  till  Messiah  came. 

The  Book  of  Jasher  (62  :  23)  records  the  death 
of  Judah  when  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  years 
old,  and  that  he  was  embalmed,  and  put  in  a  coffin, 
and  given  into  the  hands  of  his  children.  It  was 
an  honor  done  to  his  father  and  to  Joseph,  and 
marks  Judah  above  his  other  brethren.  The  tra- 
dition is  significant. 

§  XYI. — Conclusion. 

Now,  if  it  be  asked  what  is  gained  by  adopting 
the  proposed  authorship  thus  j^resented,  I  answer 
with  St.  Paul,  Much,  every  way.  It  removes  root 
and  branch  the  guesses  of  Kuenenism,  Wellhausen- 
ism,  and  the  rhetoric  of  Eenan.  Genesis  and  the 
Pentateuch  cannot  be  ascribed  to  a  human  origin 
and  development.  The  first  Biblical  book  thus 
becomes  true  history,  so  far  as  it  is  history  ;  true  sci- 
ence for  that  age,  so  far  as  it  treats  of  scientific 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAH.  97 

matters,  and  a  true  Revelation  from  God  touching 
all  matters  above  human  knowledge,  whether  of 
celestial  beings,  or  of  Divine  covenant,  or  of  special 
providences  in  first  saving  a  doomed  world,  and 
then  in  preparation  for  the  Redeemer  of  mankind. 
The  uniqueness  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham 
stamps  its  Divine  origin. 

Neither  he  nor  any  other  man  then  could  have  de- 
vised and  thought  it  out.  He  had  travelled  twelve 
hundred  miles,  had  settled  almost  alone  among 
strangers,  had  acknowledged  the  God  El-Elyon  of 
Melchizedek,  and  had  paid  him  tithes.  He  was  the 
first  missionary  of  the  world.  It  was  a  novel  way 
to  found  a  new  nation  and  a  new  religion.  He  cer- 
tainly had  no  scheme  in  his  mind  hke  other  found- 
ers in  later  times,  like  Buddha  or  Mahomet.  The 
setting  up  of  a  new  religious  cult  was  at  first  the 
farthest  from  his  intention.  Not  till  he  was  ninety- 
nine  years  old  did  he  receive  the  seal  of  circum- 
cision, the  blood  of  which  typified  its  value,  being 
the  symbol  of  life  and  the  appointed  means  for  cov- 
ering sin.  That  was  not  Abraham's,  but  Jehovah's 
method.  So  when  the  system  was  completed  under 
Moses,  blood  was  the  s^^mbol  which  atoned  for  the 
sin  of  man.  In  old  Canaan  and  at  Sinai  blood  w\as 
the  seal  of  Divine  covenant.  It  was  not  Abraham, 
nor  Moses,  but  God  wdio  appointed  it  to  be  so. 
The  symbol  of  life  was  Jehovah's  symbol  of  for- 
giveness. In  Abel's  sacrifice  and  at  Moriah  it  was 
disclosed  how  atonement  for  sin  could  be  obtained. 
5 


98  THE   WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

Moreover,  the  blood  of  circumcision  linked  and 
connected  itself  with  the  blood  of  the  Passover-lamb. 
The  blood  of  a  lamb  and  the  blood  of  man,  centuries 
apart  in  time,  was  made  the  symbol  of  the  Divine 
acceptance  of  the  sinner.  But  while  the  signifi- 
cance was  alike  in  each  era,  the  plan  was  beyond  the 
comprehension  of  Abraham  and  of  Moses.  Neither 
of  them  could  have  devised  such  a  method,  which 
is  proof  of  its  revelation.     It  was  Heaven  ordained. 

The  records  also  disclose  unity  and  completeness. 
In  the  genealogy  before  the  Deluge  we  find  the 
heads  of  ten  families,  from  Adam  to  Noah  ;  though 
there  may  have  been  more,  ten  are  mentioned.  So 
in  the  genealogy  of  Abraham,  ten  heads  of  families 
trace  him  back  to  Shem.  It  is  the  number  of  com- 
pleteness. A  list  of  ten  progenitors  traces  him  up 
to  Shem,  and  another  list  of  ten  traces  him  up  from 
I^oah  to  Adam. 

For  suppose  it  can  be  shown,  as  Dr.  Winchell 
and  others  have  attempted,  that  other  beings  like 
man  once  occupied  this  earth,  yet  the  records  of 
Noah's  family  and  of  Abraham's  show  their  descent 
in  direct  line  from  Adam,  who  was  God-created. 
And  the  law  of  Deuteronomy  23  :  2,  3  was  in  fact 
observed.  Lot's  children,  Ammon  and  Moab,  could 
not  enter  the  assembly  of  Jehovah  unto  the  tenth 
generation,  for  all  future  ages.  AVhile  the  records 
of  Noah,  of  Abraham,  and  of  Moses  testify  to  the 
purity  of  Israel's  descent  for  twice  ten  generations 
in  regular  succession.     It  is  a  very  ancient  example 


ABRAHAM    TO   JUDAH.  99 

of  the  importance  of  family  purity,  of  family  de- 
scent, and  of  contemporary  records. 

This  explains  the  great  care  afterward  seen  in 
preserving  the  genealogy  of  the  Hebrews.  One- 
third  of  the  I  Chronicles  is  occupied  with  tables  of 
descent.  It  is  seen  in  Ezra  2  :  61,  62  in  a  remark- 
able ruling  which  excluded  certain  claimants  from 
the  priest's  office,  because  of  mixed  marriages. 
Compare  Neh.  7  :  63,  64.  Descendants  of  Barzil- 
lai,  the  Gileadite,  were  thus  rejected.  But  a  rule 
which  had  been  operative  from  time  immemorial, 
from  Abraham  to  Moses,  to  David  and  Ezra,  must 
have  been  believed  to  be  of  Divine  appointment. 
It  was  before  the  Law  of  Sinai,  and  is  another  il- 
lustration of  very  early  records.  The  rule  is  found 
back  of  Ezra,  back  of  Moses,  and  has  its  roots  in 
the  ten  generations  of  Abraham  and  the  ten  genera- 
tions of  Noah. 

As  moderns  have  their  correspondents  the  world 
over,  so  the  ancient  leaders  of  Egypt  and  the  Ori- 
ent had  their  scribes,  who  recorded  their  achieve- 
ments. Thus  Sneferu  and  Sargon  and  the  early 
Pharaohs  inscribed  their  deeds,  and  perhaps  an 
image  of  themselves  on  the  rocks  of  the  Wady 
Magharah,  or  of  Cyprus,  or  on  some  obelisk  or 
temple.  But  the  Patriarchs  built  an  altar,  or  mar- 
ried a  wife,  or  dug  a  well,  or  made  a  treaty,  and 
then  wrote  an  account  of  their  doings  in  the  register 
of  the  Tribes,  and  so  preserved  the  record  for  their 
descendants.     Especially  careful  were  they  in  all 


100  THE   WKITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

matters  concerning  Divine  covenant  and  tlieir  rela- 
tions to  it  and  to  God.  Hence  the  early  writing  of 
Genesis. 

Perhaps  too  much  is  said  about  European  scepti- 
cism, and  calling  this  Old  Testament  book  and  that 
New  Testament  book  legendary  and  mythical,  writ- 
ten when  and  by  whom  nobody  knows  !  It  is  alike 
destructive  of  Christian  belief  and  of  Christian 
growth.  First,  the  difficulties  of  Kevelation  are 
magnified,  and  then  the  Scriptures  are  rejected  be- 
cause of  those  difficulties  ! 

The  truth  and  strength  of  my  argument  find 
support  in  the  evidence  for  very  early  writing  as 
attested  by  the  inscriptions  of  Babylonia  and  Egypt. 
It  is  conceded  by  M.  Renan,  who  meets  it  in  the 
weakest  possible  way — viz.,  by  suggesting  that  the 
discoveries  of  Tel-el-Amarna  are  forgeries  !  To 
forge  a  record  which  nobody  living  could  write  is 
not  yet  among  our  modern  achievements.  Bnt  the 
argument  here  presented,  as  well  as  that  in  '*  Bible 
Growth  and  Religion,"  does  not  depend  on  the 
Tel-el-Amarna  inscriptions,  nor  upon  the  statue  of 
Rameses  II.,  found  at  Bubastis,  from  which  Ram- 
eses  had  erased  the  name  of  a  Hyksos  king  and  in- 
scribed his  own  instead  ;  nor  upon  the  mummy  of 
Sekenen-Ra,  of  Thebes,  showing  that  his  skull 
had  been  cloven  through,  causing  his  death,  prob- 
ably while  fighting  against  the  Hyksos.  I  say,  my 
argument  does  not  depend  upon  these  disclosures, 
though  they  tend  to  strengthen  it.     We  go  back  of 


ABRAHAM   TO   JUDAII.  101 

Earaeses  II.  and  Sekenen-Ea  to  the  inscriptions  of 
the  twelfth  dynasty  ;  to  the  Ilittite  writing  of  He- 
bron and  Zoan  ;  to  the  ilhistrations  of  Syrian  visitors 
in  Egypt  ;  to  the  inscriptions  upon  the  obehsks,  in 
the  tombs,  upon  early  temples  and  pyramids  ;  to 
records  of  the  fourth  dynasty,  of  the  second  dynasty, 
and,  according  to  Professor  Sayce,  of  the  first 
dynasty.  We  find  the  inscriptions  of  Sargon  I.  and 
of  his  son,  of  Khammuragas,  of  Kuder-Mabug  and 
Arioch  mentioned  in  Gen.  14,  and  the  artistic  skill 
mentioned  in  Gen.  4  :  19-22. 

The  rocks  of  Cyprus  and  of  Sinai,  the  inscriptions 
of  Babylon  concerning  Marduk,  the  Messiah,  and 
of  Istar  weeping  for  Tammuz,  like  Eve  for  Abel, 
are  not  forgeries.  Nor  are  the  stone  cylinders  now 
in  the  British  Museum  which  represent  a  man  and 
a  woman  in  the  act  of  plucking  fruit  from  a  tree, 
and  a  serpent  erect  standing  behind  the  woman. 
Nor  is  the  inscription  about  the  scorpion-men,  the 
cherubim-like  guardians  of  the  way  to  the  tree  of 
life  and  to  Eden  itself,  translated  in  June,  1889,  by 
Mr.  Boscawen.  Nor  is  there  any  doubt  of  the  leg- 
ends aad  their  meaning,  which  we  call  Deluge 
Legends  in  Chaldea,  with  their  confirmation  in 
Egypt,  India,  and  China.  Their  account  agrees 
substantially  with  our  Genesis,  and  with  the  arts 
named  in  Gen.  4  disclose  a  degree  of  skill  which 
implies  the  ability  to  read  and  write.  How  else 
was  preserved  the  record  of  the  ten  Adamic  gener- 
ations down  to  Noah,  and  of  the  ten  generations 


102  THE  WRITERS   OF   GENESIS. 

from  Noah  to  Abraham  ?  And  as  **  probability  is 
the  very  guide  of  life,"  we  have  the  very  great 
probability  which  the  records  disclose  that  Abraham 
and  his  successors  wrote  the  Genesis  which  was 
early  studied,  and  later  revised  by  Moses.  This 
accounts  for  all  peculiarities  of  style  and  language. 

It  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  all  modern  analysts  of 
the  text  of  our  Genesis,  and  is  as  probable  as  the 
literature  of  Babylonia  and  Egypt  can  m.ake  it. 
The  forgery  of  those  literatures  is  impossible,  while 
their  existence  in  the  days  of  Abraham  and  his  sons 
all  but  demonstrates  the  patriarchs  as  writing  me- 
moirs of  their  times. 

In  the  name  of  Him  who  gave  the  Revelation  in 
our  Genesis,  I  entreat  the  reader,  both  of  the  crit- 
ical and  the  traditional  school,  to  pause  and  recon- 
sider my  suggestions  before  relegating  them  among 
the  theories  which  may  be  true.  Patriarchal  writ- 
ing honors  reason,  explains  conceded  difficulties, 
and  enthrones  God  in  the  Book  of  Genesis.  If 
used  as  a  provisional  basis  of  exposition,  and  tested 
by  experience,  the  unfoldings  of  the  future  will  best 
determine  whether  acceptance  shall  be  final  and 
satisfactory. 


IT. 


INTEENAL    EVIDENCE   FOE   AN   EAELY 
WEITEE  OF  ISAIAH  40-66. 

All  critics,  we  are  told,  concede  a  similarity  of 
style  in  the  last  twenty-seven  chapters  of  Isaiah 
with  tliat  of  the  first  forty  chapters.  And  similar 
technical  expressions  are  common  in  each  division  ; 
for  example,  *'  The  Holy  One  of  Israel"  and 
"  The  Servant  of  Jehovah."  Similar  Hymns  are 
common  to  both  sections  of  the  Prophecies,  while 
there  is  a  noticeable  infrequency  of  'Visions  ;" 
thus  chapter  6  in  the  first  division  and  chapter  63 
in  the  second  part  stand  alone. 

Ancient  tradition,  the  Jewish  Synagogue,  Ec- 
cles.  48  :  24,  25,  quotations  by  the  later  prophets, 
by  Josephus,  and  by  early  Christian  writers,  as  well 
as  its  long-time  place  in  the  Canon,  all  attribute  the 
Book  of  Isaiah  to  one  and  the  same  Author.  The 
purpose  of  this  inquiry,  however,  is  not  the  unity 
of  its  authorship,  but  its  comparatively  early  date. 
Prophecies  of  the  highest  order,  stirring  exhorta- 
tions, and  very  remarkable  history  are  common  to 
both  sections.     By  examining  portions  of  the  last 


104  THE   WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

twenty-seven  chapters,  we  expect  to  find  an  approx- 
imate date  for  the  writing. 

In  chapter  40  :  18-26  we  have  the  demand,  "  To 
whom  will  ye  liken  God  ?  or  what  likeness  will  ye 
compare  unto  Him  ?  The  graven  image,  a  work- 
man melted  it,  and  the  goldsmith  spreadeth  it  over 
with  gold,  and  casteth  for  it  silver  chains."  Then 
follows  a  grand  description  of  Jehovah's  power, 
who  again  demands,  ''  To  whom  then  will  ye  liken 
Me  ?  Lift  up  your  eyes  on  high,  and  see  who  hath 
created  these  heavenly  things,  calling  them  all  by 
name  .   .   .  not  one  is  lacking." 

Kow,  whoever  cannot  appreciate  the  force  of  the 
prophet's  argument  and  the  grandeur  of  his  lan- 
guage of  course  cannot  see  the  utter  absurdity  of 
such  deliverances  in  Palestine  at  any  time  after  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  in  586  b.c,  when  idolatry 
ceased  there,  or  of  an  Exile  Jew  so  addressing  the 
Assyrian  or  Babylonian  Gentile.  For  the  Jew  it 
was  too  late  ;  for  the  Gentile  it  was  a  century  too 
early.  Even  if  the  writer  of  these  chapters  was 
authenticated  by  the  Prophet  Jeremiah,  since  he 
died  in  about  572  b.c,  it  would  be  singularly  ab- 
surd to  make  such  a  comparison  of  Jehovah  with 
graven  images  at  that  time  ;  for  none  remained  in 
the  ruined  city  of  Zion  ;  only  the  poorest  of  the 
people  were  left  ;  and  Gentiles  were  jubilant  vic- 
tors, not  disposed  to  regard  those  who  derided  their 
deities.  Nebuchadnezzar  effected  a  large  clearance 
in  Judsea.     So  a  prophet  of  the  Lord  would  not 


BEFORE   THE    EXILE.  105 

stultify  himself  by  exhorting  to  forsake  the  wor- 
ship of  graven  images  from  586  to  570  b.c,  nor, 
perhaps,  till  after  Cyrus  took  Babylon. 

I  have  tried  repeatedly  to  apply  the  comforting 
character  and  the  shepherding  character  disclosed 
in  chapter  40  to  Cyrus,  but  in  vain  ;  he  never  ap- 
proaches the  standard,  and  there  was  little  of  the 
herald  of  good  tidings  about  him.  He  was  as  astute 
a  politician  as  an  accomplished  soldier,  but  preacher 
of  righteousness  and  the  worship  of  Israel's  God 
he  was  not  in  any  such  way  or  degree  as  to  fulfil 
the  description  in  chapter  40.  The  Church  ap- 
points the  reading  of  the  first  eleven  verses  for  St. 
John  Baptist  Day,  which  suggests  her  opinion  of 
their  interpretation. 

Compare  Jer.,  chapters  10,  50,  51,  which,  how- 
ever, were  written  before  their  fulfilment.  The 
great  similarity  in  the  contents  is  conclusive  for  an 
early  date  of  the  Isaianic  passages.  Thus,  touch- 
ing idolatry  we  read,  "  Behold,  their  works  are 
vanity  and  nought  :  their  molten  images  are  wind 
and  confusion"  (Is.  41  :  29).  I  invite  the  critics  to 
prove  that  this  passage  was  not  written  before  the 
Fall  of  Jerusalem,  in  586.  After  that  date  prophets 
had  no  occasion  to  denounce  idolatry  in  Judsea. 
But  see  the  accentuation  of  it  in  chapter  42  :  8,  '^  I 
am  Jehovah  ;  .  .  .  my  glory  will  I  not  give  to 
another,  neither  my  praise  unto  graven  images." 
And  verse  24  asks,  "  Who  gave  Jacob  for  a  spoil, 
and  Israel  to  the  robbers?  did  not  Jehovah  ?" 
5* 


106  THE   WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

This  is  a  time- mark,  and  shows  the  passage  was 
written  after  the  capture  of  Samaria  by  Sargon  II., 
when  Jacob  was  spoiled  and  Israel  robbed,  but  be- 
fore the  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar — 
i.e.^  some  time  between  721  and  586  e.g.  These 
dates  are  as  well  defined  as  that  of  our  Ameri- 
can Independence.  A¥ith  586  idolatry  ceased  in 
.Judaea,  and  no  writer  like  the  author  of  42  :  17 
would  denounce  the  "  trust  in  graven  images,  and 
the  invocation  of  molten  images."  If  the  writer  is 
supposed  to  have  lived  in  Babylonia,  he  would  not 
dare  to  denounce  the  idolatry  of  Babylonians.  But 
put  the  deliverance  of  the  text  before  586,  and  all 
is  easy  of  exposition.  An  inspired  writer  explains 
what  even  a  truthful  historian  leaves  inexplicable. 
Hence,  I  prefer  the  one  miracle  of  prophecy  to  the 
manifold  confusions  arising  from  assigning  it  to  a 
later  date. 

So,  again,  in  chapter  43  :  1,  3,  it  implies  that 
Jehovah  had  given  Egypt,  Ethiopia,  and  Seba  as  a 
ransom  for  Jacob  and  Israel  ;  which  could  have  no 
meaning  after  the  Fall  of  the  Holy  City.  Yerse 
14  is  against  Babylon  and  the  Chaldeans,  and  verse 
28  "  will  profane  the  sanctuary,  and  make  Jacob  a 
curse  and  Israel  a  reviling  ;"  showing  that  the  curse 
and  the  reproach  were  yet  to  be — viz.,  before  586  e.g. 
In  chapter  44  :  1-8  is  a  detailed  promise  of  help 
and  blessing,  followed  by  an  exaltation  of  Jehovah's 
supremacy,  which  was  not  required  to  be  stated 
after  the  Restoration  under  Cyrus  ;  yet  in  verses 


BEFORE   THE    EXILE.  107 

9-20  are  "  tlie  carpenter's  description  and  the 
baker's  description  of  making  a  god  of  wood,  and 
then  burning  the  chips  in  order  to  bake  bread  there- 
with, orto  warm  one's  self  at  the  fire  thereof,"  which 
would  have  no  relevancy  if  uttered  after  586  B.C.; 
for  the  Hebrews  wxre  cured  of  idolatry  in  Baby- 
lonia. 

Moreover,  the  conditions  of  pardon  and  restora- 
tion, unfolded  in  44  :  21-45  :  25  are  prophetic  ; 
for  the  comparison  of  Jehovah  with  the  gods  of  the 
nations  is  continued,  even  to  ''  the  wood  of  their 
graven  images,  and  prayer  unto  a  god  that  cannot 
save"  (45  :  20,  21).  This  had  no  application  to 
Cyrus,  who  accepted  the  doctrine  of  Two  eternal 
Principles  of  Good  and  Evil,  and  he  was  not  a  wor- 
shipper of  images.  His  attendance  upon  the  sacri- 
fices in  Babylonian  temples  disclosed  his  tolerance, 
or,  if  you  prefer,  his  indifferentism  to  national  re- 
ligions. He  certainly  granted  favors  to  the  He- 
brew exiles,  and  by  decree  provided  for  their  re- 
turn, and  the  restoration  of  all  their  sacred  thino:8. 
But  his  favor  to  them  did  not  incite  him  to  attack 
the  shrines  of  Babylon.  Not  yet  did  Bel  fall  or 
Nebo  crouch  to  the  conqueror.  Not  yet  ' '  shall 
tliey  go  into  confusion  together  that  are  makers  of 
idols"  (45  :  16).  But  Judah  was  to  follow  Ephraim 
into  exile.  So  it  came  to  pass  ;  the  Kingdom  of 
the  South  also  became  captive.  '*  All  Israel,  all 
the  ends  of  the  earth,  shall  be  saved  by  looking 
unto  God.     In  Jehovah  shall  all  the  seed  of  Israel 


108  THE    WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

be  justified,  and  shall  glory."     It  was  then  to  be 
(45  :  22-25). 

Not  only  is  the  nation's  deliverer  named,  and  the 
terms  of  Pardon  and  Restoration  stated  for  Judah 
and  Ephraim,  but  the  supremacy  of  Jehovah  is  in- 
sisted upon  for  Jew  and  for  Gentile.  After  how 
long  an  interval  is  not  said,  but  it  is  affirmed  as  a 
fact  to  be  accomplished  (chapter  46  :  1),  as  8chra- 
der  tersely  renders,  "  Bel  sinks,  Nebo  falls  down." 
And  the  Revised  Yersion,  ''  Their  idols  are  upon  the 
beasts,  and  upon  the  cattle  ;  themselves  are  gone 
into  captivity"  (verses  1,  2).  It  sounds  like  pro- 
phetic ridicule  :  Bel  and  Nebo  are  taken  prisoners. 
Orelli  places  this  under  Artaxerxes,  but  Herod- 
otus, P.  Smith,  Rawlinson,  and  Professor  Sayce 
place  it  under  Xerxes  I.,  at  least  forty  years  after 
Cyrus,  but  probably  before  he  entered  upon  the 
war  against  Greece.  Herodotus  (Book  1,  chapter 
183)  says  :  ''  Xerxes  took  away  the  golden  image 
of  Bel,  and  killed  the  priest  who  forbade  him  to 
move  the  statue."  This,  I  presume,  was  before 
the  war  with  Greece,  and  Xerxes  actually  seized  the 
statues  of  Bel  and  of  Nebo,  and  coined  them  into 
money,  to  aid  in  his  campaign  against  Greece. 
Then,  after  his  return,  he  destroyed  the  temple  of 
Belus,  so  Arrian  (vii.  17).  Xerxes  would  hardly 
have  done  so  provoking  a  thing  before  that  war,  lest 
it  fomented  worse  evils  than  seemed  pending,  but 
upon  his  return  his  resentment  was  intensified  by 
his  defeat. 


BEFORE   THE   EXILE.  109 

It  was  Nebuchadnezzar,  after  the  devastations  of 
Sennacherib,  that  rebuilt  Bel's  temple  and  replaced 
the  silver  image,  which  he  overlaid  with  plates  of 
gold,  and  enriched  his  worship.  Indeed,  no  son 
could  do  more  honor  to  his  father  and  show  more 
love  for  him  than  Nebuchadnezzar  showed  to  Bel 
Merodach.  He  entered  his  temple,  took  him  by 
the  hand,  and  thanked  him  for  his  blessings  and  his 
triumphs.  He  adored  him  at  great  cost.  This 
temple  continued  to  Xerxes  I.,  when  he  pillaged 
and  then  destroyed  the  temple  of  Bel  and  of  Nebo. 
Their  worship,  however,  held  on,  with  various 
fortune,  to  the  third  or  fourth  Christian  century. 
(So  Kawlinson's  ''Herodotus,"  4:th  ed.,  London, 
vol.  i.,  pp.  660-668.)  But  the  words  of  the  prophet 
were  fulfilled  when,  in  about  485  b.c,  a  full  cen- 
tury after  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem,  Bel  and  Nebo  were 
captured  by  the  Persian  king  and  converted  to  his 
own  uses  by  being  coined  into  money  for  his  wars 
against  the  Greeks. 

Dr.  Cheyne  seems  to  regard  the  passage  as  writ- 
ten of  Cyrus,  and  that  the  conqueror  disappointed 
prophetic  expectations  when  he  tolerated  and  did 
not  destroy  the  worship  of  Bel  and  of  Nebo.  But 
surely  46  :  1  and  2  may  have  no  reference  to 
Cyrus,  but  only  to  him  who,  like  Xerxes,  made 
those  images  to  vanish  from  before  him  !  As  a 
successor  of  Cyrus  and  the  avenger  of  Jehovah 
upon  idols  Xerxes  I.  seems  to  have  fulfilled  all  the 
requirements  of  the  prophecy.     It  recalls  the  irony 


110  THE   WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

of  Elijah  against  the  dupes  of  Baal  (1  Kings  18). 
But  while  he  was  laughing  at  the  idolaters  of  Israel, 
the  writer  of  Is.  46  :  1-2  portrays,  before  the  event, 
the  helplessness  and  capture  of  the  Babylonian  idols. 
He  also  further  insists  upon  the  supremacy  and  sov- 
ereignty of  Jehovah  (verses  3-13).  It  was  prophecy 
not  yet  fulfilled. 

Those  who  make  history  of  it  ignore  47  :  1-7  : 
*'  Come  down,  and  sit  in  the  dust,  O  virgin 
daughter  of  Babyh^n  ;  sit  on  the  ground  without  a 
throne,  O  daughter  of  the  Chaldeans  !  I  will  take 
vengeance,  and  will  accept  no  man  as  a  truce  maker 
between  us.  Get  thee  into  darkness,  0  daughter 
of  the  Chaldeans  !  Two  things  shall  come  upon  thee 
in  one  day,  the  loss  of  children,  and  widowhood  ; 
there  shall  be  none  to  save  thee"  (verses  9,  15). 
These  predictive  utterances  were  literally  fulfilled 
at  Babylon  by  Cyrus  in  538.  Belshazzar  was  slain, 
and  his  father,  Nabonidus,  died  soon  after.  The 
country,  like  that  of  Israel  and  Judah,  was  bereft 
of  both  her  kings.  In  little  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury Bel  and  Nebo  were  melted  into  current  coin. 
We  cannot  bring  these  several  events  nearer  to- 
gether. There  is  the  discussion  against  idolatry,  the 
word  about  Cyrus,  about  Bel  and  Nebo  ;  in  66  :  6  a 
word  goes  forth  from  the  temple  ;  no  one  human 
life  could  span  those  215  years,  or  from  the  siege  of 
Sennacherib  to  the  capture  of  Xerxes  I.  To  reduce 
the  prophetic  portraiture  which  we^find  in  chapters 
44  to  48  to  a  history  of  occurrences  is  to  do  vio- 


UEFORE    THE    EXILE.  Ill 

lenco  to  the  text,  its  time-marks,  and  its  arguments. 
It  ignores  the  futures  in  48  :  14,  20,  "  Shall  per- 
form His  pleasure  on  Bahjlon  :  Go  je  forth  of 
Babylon,  flee  ye  from  the  Chaldeans,  tell  it  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth  !"  Surely  this,  when  spoken,  had 
not  been  done  ?  Bel  Merodach  liad  not  fallen  and 
Nebo  liad  not  prostrated  himself  before  the  God  of 
godg. 

Hence,  the  actual  fall  of  those  false  gods  was  a 
striking  confirmation  of  the  predictions  and  con- 
trasts in  Is.  40-46,  and  of  Jer.  10,  50,  51.  But 
Isaiah  is  never  more  sure  of  the  Restoration  of 
Judah  than  was  Jeremiah,  who,  when  in  prison, 
sent  his  servant  to  purchase  the  field,  whose  right 
of  redemption  was  his,  saying  :  ^'  Thus  saith  Je- 
hovah, God  of  Israel :  Houses,  and  fields,  and  vine- 
yards shall  be  possessed  again  in  this  land."  Com- 
pare Jer.  32  :  2-15  ;  36  to  44  with  Is.  48  :  12-20  ; 
49  :  8-26.  So  the  writer  of  these  portions  of  Isaiah 
is  corroborated  by  Jeremiah,  and  he  again  by  Micah. 
The  predictions  of  each  are  alike  explicit.  Compare 
Jer.  15th  chapter.  Also  what  is  said  of  a  certain 
Roman  who,  after  the  disaster  at  Cannge,  bought  a 
piece  of  the  ground  then  occupied  by  Hannibal. 
No  ;  the  accuracy  of  a  fulfilment  of  prophecy  does 
not  prove  it  false,  nor  that  it  was  written  after  the 
events. 

Moreover,  chapter  49  informs  us  that  the  isles  of 
Japheth  shall  see  the  exaltation  and  return  of  Jacob, 
even  as  they  saw  his    humiliation    and    captivity. 


112  THE   WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

Verses  25,  26  could  scarcely  be  more  expressive  of 
deliverance  :  "  Tims  saitli  Jehovah,  Even  the  cap- 
tives of  tlie  mighty  shall  be  taken  away,  and  the 
prey  of  the  terrible  shall  be  delivered  ;  for  I  will 
contend  with  him  that  contendeth  with  thee,  and  I 
will  save  thy  children.  And  I  will  feed  them  that 
oppress  thee  with  their  own  flesh  ;  and  they  ishall 
be  drunken  with  their  own  blood,  as  with  sweet 
wine  :  and  all  flesh  shall  kuowthat  I,  the  Lord,  am 
the  Saviour  and  thy  Redeemer,  the  Mighty  One  of 
Jacob."  All  this  was  in  the  future  when  the 
prophet  wrote,  and  when  Jeremiah  wrote,  but 
found  its  accomplishment  in  the  conspiracy  of  the 
priests  against  Nabonidus  for  not  being  more  devoted 
to  them,  and  they  prepared  the  way  for  Cyrus  by 
conspiracy  against  the  government,  so  that  Belshaz- 
zar  and  others  fell  by  the  hand  of  the  assassins 
among  their  own  Babylonians,  rather  than  by  the 
sword  of  the  Persians.  This  is  the  revised  history 
of  the  Fall  of  Babylon,  Her  people  were  drunk 
with  their  own  blood,  through  the  slaughter  of  con- 
spirators, and  in  538  b.o.  fulfilled  Is.  49  :  26.  But 
46  :  1  was  fulfilled  by  Xerxes  I.  rather  more  than 
fifty  years  later. 

The  divorcement  mentioned  in  chapter  50  :  1,  2 
may  be  better  apphed  to  the  Ten  Tribes  already  in 
Exile  than  to  Judah,  for  whose  transgression  the 
mother  was  put  away  when  the  larger  part  of  Israel 
was  carried  captive.  But  the  sin  of  both  kingdoms 
now  left  them  without  a  man  to  deliver  them  ;  only 


BEFORE   THE   EXILE.  113 

Jehovah  could  redeem  and  save  them  ;  so  the 
prophet  describes  Him  (verses  2-11).  The  descrip- 
tion is  grandly  continued  in  predictive  poetry  through 
chapter  51,  and  to  verse  13  of  chapter  52.  The 
language  is  very  thrilling.  Whether  the  "  Awake, 
awake,  put  on  strength,  O  arm  of  Jehovah"  — 
'^  Awake,  awake,  stand  np,  O  Jerusalem"  — 
''  Awake,  awake,  put  on  thy  strength,  O  Zion  ;  put 
on  thy  beautiful  garments,  O  Jerusalem,  the  holy 
city  !"  a  city  then  laid  waste,  as  some  say — whether 
these  exhortations  were  uttered  by  the  prophet 
through  inspired  vision  of  future  unfoldings,  or  were 
the  deliverances  of  a  later  herald,  must  be  deter- 
mined by  the  light  already  shed  upon  our  theme  and 
by  what  may  yet  dawn.  Certain  it  is  they  preced- 
ed the  return  from  Babylon,  and  did  not  receive 
complete  fulfilment  under  Cyrus.  A  diviner  Light 
should  yet  arise  for  Judah. 

We  may  find  another  time  mark  in  52  :  4,  5, 
*'  Saith  the  Lord  God,  My  people  went  down  at  the 
first  to  sojourn  in  Egypt,"  they  did  not  expect  to 
abide  there,  but  were  kept  for  some  centuries. 
Leaping  over  other  centuries,  "  The  Assyrian  op- 
pressed them  without  cause."  That  is,  Shalma- 
neser  lY.  and  Sargon  II.  had  no  grievance  to 
avenge  for  which  to  invade  Israel  and  carry  Sama- 
ria captive.  *'  Now,  therefore,  saith  Jehovah,  see- 
ing my  people  is  taken  away  for  nought,  and  their 
rulers  make  them  howl,  and  my  name  is  continually 
blasphemed"  (through  the  honors  paid  to  Bel  and 


114  THE   WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

Nebo),  ^^  Therefore  m J  people  shall  know  my  name, 
and  that  I  am  here  to  speak  for  them  ;  behold,  it 
is  1."  I  have  adopted  the  margin  of  the  Revised 
Version  in  veree  6. 

The  prophet  here  states  that  neither  Israel  nor 
Jiidah  had  wronged  Assyria  and  Babylon,  who  were, 
therefore,  to  be  punished  for  their  offences  commit- 
ted while  chastizing  the  Hebrews  for  their  sins 
against  God.  Tlie  eternal  law  of  righteousness  is 
regnant  andiihistrated,  and  also  the  Divine  promise 
to  Abraham.  His  heritage  was  Canaan,  and  it 
passed  to  Israel.  They  sought  refuge  from  famine 
in  Egypt,  and  were  kept  there  for  centuries.  They 
were  not  captives,  but  detained  and  enslaved  till 
Jehovah  delivered  them.  Later  on  they  were  cap- 
tured by  force  of  arms,  and  carried  now  into  As- 
syria and  now  to  Babylonia.  It  was  not,  like  the 
going  down  to  Egypt,  a  voluntary  migration,  but 
a  seizure.  Longer  detention  there  would  interfere 
with  the  Divine  plan  of  man's  Redemption  ;  break 
the  promise  to  Abraham,  and  let  the  Gentile  blas- 
pheme. Hence  Judah  was  to  be  rescued  and  re- 
stored, and  the  oppressor  chastized.  The  exiles 
were  exhorted  to  ''  look  unto  Abraham,  their  father, 
and  unto  Sarah,  their  mother  :  in  unity  he  had  been 
called  and  blessed,  and  of  one  made  many.  Jehovah 
will  comfort  Zion,  and  make  her  deserts  like  Eden. 
Joy  and  gladness  shall  be  found  therein,  thanksgiv- 
ing, and  the  voice  of  melody"  (51  :  2,  3  ;  52  :  3-6). 

National  deliverance  is  coupled  with  the  world's 


BEFORE   THE    EXILE.  115 

salvation  ;  the  propliet  describes  the  suffering  Mes- 
siah, who  becomes  an  offering  for  sin,  bearing  the 
iniquities  of  others,  and  making  intercession  for  the 
people  (chapter  52  :  13-53  :  12).  Surely,  if  this 
passage  of  a  suffering  Saviour  for  Israel  is  in  its  proper 
place  here,  there  are  connected  two  related  subjects 
— viz.,  the  salvation  of  Israel  and  salvation  by  the 
Christ.  Chapter  53  :  4-12  cannot  be  adequately 
explained  of  any  Deliverer  from  national  exile  ;  for 
He  is  a  Sufferer,  and  suffers  the  full  penalty  in  Ilis 
own  person  for  the  transgressions  of  others.  He  is 
not  like  Moses,  who  led  forth  his  people  from 
Egypt  ;  nor  like  David,  who  delivered  them  from 
the  power  of  the  Philistines  ;  nor  like  Hezekiah, 
who  went  into  the  Temple,  and  with  the  letter  of 
Sennacherib  spread  before  Jehovah,  besought  Him 
to  rescue  His  people  from  the  besieging  army. 
Those  deliverers  suffered  no  penalty  ;  but  this 
righteous  Servant  justifies  and  delivers  many,  by 
bearing  their  iniquities  Himself,  by  the  travail  of 
His  own  soul  (verse  11). 

Throughout  these  connected  chapters  we  find  a 
complex,  dual  subject  :  there  are  the  supremacy  of 
Jehovah  and  exposure  of  the  absurdity  of  idols  and 
idol  worship ;  the  warnings  and  denunciations  against 
sin  and  the  threatened  judgments  upon  it  ;  pre- 
dicted exile  and  promised  restoration.  The  penalty 
follows  transgression.  Jehovah  triumphs  over  all 
rival  deities  ;  Bel  and  Nebo  bow  before  Him.  For 
the  salvation  of  the  world,  a  captive  nation  shall  be 


116  THE   WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

delivered  from  captivity  and  be  re-established  in 
their  own  land.  For  the  God  of  Abraham  had 
promised  to  keep  the  covenant  made  with  him  for 
blessing  mankind. 

Filled  with  these  assurances  of  the  deliverance  of 
Jehovah's  people — barren,  desolate,  and  forsaken, 
like  a  deserted  wife,  as  they  then  were — the  writer 
breaks  forth  into  the  highest  strains  of  poetry  : 
"  Sine:,  O  barren,  thou  that  didst  not  bear.  Thou 
shalt  be  enlarged,  and  shalt  possess  the  nations.  As 
the  Flood  of  Noah  abated,  and  the  earth  was  re- 
newed, so  Jehovah  will  renew  His  promises  to  His 
people.  His  covenant  of  peace,  of  which  the  en- 
durinor  mountains  were  witness,  should  not  be 
broken,  but  His  kindness  should  return  to  them, 
and  God  would  gather  them  with  great  mercies" 
(54  :  1-10).  Then  another  prophetic  hymn  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  personal  invitation  to  *'  Every  one  that 
thirsteth  to  come  to  the  waters  ;  to  come  freely, 
without  money,  and  partake  of  wine  and  milk  with- 
out cost.  For  Jehovah,  God  of  Israel,  would  glorify 
them"  (55  :  1-5).  But  this  was  never  true  of  the 
national  restoration  ;  that  was  at  great  cost  to  Per- 
sian princes  and  to  the  returned  Hebrews.  The 
prophet  therefore  looked  forward  to  the  preaching 
of  the  Messiah.     (Compare  St.  Matt.  11  :  28-30.) 

In  Isaiah  55  :  6-13  the  subjective  conditions, 
prayer,  penitence,  righteousness,  are  described  and 
enjoined.  Purity  and  loyalty  are  required  of  men, 
because  God  is  highly  exalted  above  all  the  earth. 


BEFORE   THE   EXILE.  117 

Even  the  natural  world  testified  to  His  supremacy, 
and  that  He  would  cause  fir-trees  and  mjrtle-trees 
to  take  the  place  of  thorns  and  briers,  as  an  ever- 
lasting sign  of  His  faithfulness.  The  redemption 
of  His  people  would  be  accompanied  bv  the  glad 
acclaim  of  mountains  and  hills,  and  the  trees  of  the 
field  would  clap  their  hands.  This,  of  course,  is 
poetry,  but  it  is  poetry  inspired.  It  is  Jehovah 
speaking  by  His  prophet,  ^^hy  that  prophet  is  not 
the  same  as  he  who  wrote  and  sung  the  first  five 
chapters  of  Isaiah  is  not  discoverable  from  the  text. 
The  style,  tone,  and  verbal  expressions  are  much 
alike  ;  only  difference  of  subject  seems  to  differ- 
entiate the  writer.  It  is  at  least  very  probable  that 
both  of  these  sections  were  written  before  the 
Exile  to  Babylon.  Compare  chapters  10  and  11. 
Jerusalem  is  threatened  (10  :  11),  yet  the  dispersed 
of  Judah  will  be  gathered  from  the  four  corners  of 
the  earth  (11  :  12). 

If  one  should  collate  passages  from  the  last  twenty- 
seven  chapters,  and  compare  them  with  their  parallels 
in  the  first  forty  chapters  of  Isaiah,  and  with  Jere- 
miah, the  absurdity  of  relegating  the  last  twenty- 
seven  chapters  to  a  period  after  these  two  prophets 
would  be  manifest.  Read  carefully  Jer.  13-15 
chapters,  where  we  find  similar  matter  to  that  of 
Isaiah,  '^  Line  upon  line,  and  precept  upon  pre- 
cept." Such  similarity  does  not  indicate  that  the 
Second  Isaiah  was  after  the  First,  nor  after  Jere- 
miah.     And  some  time  marks  suggest  that  he  may 


118  THE   WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

have  been  between  them — e.g.  Is.  Q%  :  6,  where 
the  ''  Voice  of  the  temple,  with  the  tumult  of  the 
city,  and  the  recompense  upon  Jehovah's  enemies," 
point  to  Sennacherib's  letter  which  Hezekiah  then 
spread  before  the  Lord  (chapter  37  :  14-20).  At  no 
other  time  in  that  era,  from  721-586  b.c,  is  the  three- 
fold voice  to  be  heard.  Not  till  this  nineteenth  cen- 
tury was  there  any  serious  doubt  of  its  date.  The 
section  was  translated  into  the  Septuagint  without 
question,  was  collated  by  Origen  in  the  third  cen- 
tury, and  by  Jerome  in  the  fourth,  without  suspi- 
cion that  those  twenty- seven  chapters  were  not 
prophecy  as  truly  as  the  first  forty  chapters,  as  truly 
as  the  predictions  of  Jeremiah  are  prophecy.  They 
are  prophetic  exhortations,  warnings,  songs,  fore- 
seeings,  not  written  after  the  events. 

The  exhortation  of  chapter  55  is  continued  in  56 
and  in  57,  while  in  58  it  is  only  more  urgent  :  "  Cry 
aloud,  spare  not,  lift  up  thy  voice  like  a  trumpet, 
and  declare  unto  My  people  their  transgression,  and 
to  the  house  of  Jacob  their  sins."  It  proceeds  with 
conditional  promises  of  pending  blessings,  yet  as 
though  Judah  still  observed  her  feasts  and  fasts  in 
Jerusalem  (verse  2).  And  the  figure  of  "lifting 
up  the  voice  like  a  trumpet,"  which  was  strikingly 
fitting  in  a  city,  or  before  a  large  assembly,  has  no 
meaning  for  a  people  scattered,  captured,  and  ex- 
iled throughout  the  Assyrian  empire.  So  of  chap- 
ter 59  :  "  Will  you  shorten  Jehovah's  hand  and  dull 
His  ear,  so  that  He  can  neither  hear  nor  save  ?     Is 


BEFORE   THE   EXILE.  119 

truth  SO  fallen  in  oitr  streets,  and  departed  from 
us,  that  we  are  become  a  prey,  and  the  righteous 
stand  afar  off,  wliile  our  sins  testify  against  us 
(verses  12,  14,  15)  ?  Indeed,  the  whole  chapter  is 
an  argument  that  Jerusalem  yet  stands,  but  is  in 
peril  through  transgression  ;  that  a  redeemer  shall 
come  to  Zion,  and  to  the  penitent  in  Jacob,  saith 
Jehovah"  (verse  20). 

Moreover,  the  word  Zion  used  of  the  Temple, 
and  Jacob,  used  for  Canaan,  imply  that  the  people 
were  then  at  home  and  their  beautiful  house  not 
then  destroyed.  Thus  verses  16-19  have  a  stronger 
emphasis — "■  Oh,  that  one  may  interpose  for  us,  that 
the  Divine  Arm  may  bring  us  salvation  instead  of 
vengeance  ;  then  shall  we  of  the  west  fear  Jehovah, 
and  Ris  glory  shall  be  seen  from  the  rising  of  the 
sun.  A  redeemer  shall  come  to  Zion,  and  the 
Divine  Spirit  shall  be  upon  them,  and  His  words 
shall  be  in  their  mouth,  and  shall  not  depart  out  of 
their  mouth,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  their  seed's 
seed,  saith  Jehovah,  from  henceforth  and  for  ever" 
(verse  21).  All  this  reads  as  much  like  conditional 
prophecy  before  its  accomplishment  as  anything 
we  find  from  Samuel  to  Malachi.  Compare  Mai. 
2  :  17--3  :  7.  The  frequent  iterations  of  condi- 
tional blessings  and  of  penalties  are  as  natural  in  the 
last  section  as  in  the  first  section  of  Isaiah.  He 
cannot  be  changed  into  an  historian  and  narrator  of 
accomplished  facts. 

Nor  can  we  explain  the  *'  Arise,  shine  ;  for  thy 


120  THE   WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

light  is  come"  of  Cyrus,  in  60  :  1,  since  the  whole 
account  of  the  wonders  mentioned  leads  up  to  verse 
22,  "  1,  Jehovah,  will  hasten  it  in  its  time."  But 
it  was  a  conditional  promise.  The  nations  had  not 
come  to  that  light,  nor  their  kings  to  the  brightness 
of  its  rising.  Nor  had  the  wealth  of  the  nations, 
the  frankincense  from  8heba,  the  flocks  of  Kedar, 
and  the  rams  of  Nebaioth  yet  glorified  the  house  of 
the  Lord  at  Jerusalem.  From  her  predicted  judg- 
ments after  the  capture  of  Samaria  the  people  had 
not  became  righteous  ;  though  righteousness  con- 
ditioned their  possession  of  the  land  forever.  But 
not  yet  had  this  promise  been  realized  ;  not  yet  had 
Jehovah  hastened  its  advent. 

In  due  course,  however,  Nebuchadnezzar  ac- 
knowledged the  Most  High  God  as  supreme  in 
heaven  and  in  earth  ;  Darius  and  Artaxerxes  pro- 
claimed Him  ;  while  Xerxes  I.  carried  off  Bel  and 
Nebo  from  Babylon,  and  destroyed  the  great  temple 
there.  Thenceforth  on  the  Euphrates,  as  for  more 
than  a  century  on  the  Jordan,  no  remonstrances 
were  needed  against  graven  images.  Nor  would  a 
prophet  who  could  write  like  the  author  of  Is. 
40-66  stultify  himself  by  denouncing  a  forsaken 
idolatry.  The  inference,  therefore,  must  be  that 
when  he  wrote  idolatry  was  a  crying  sin  in  Judaea. 
It  w^as  he/ore  its  extirpation  by  capture  and  by  exile. 

In  chapter  61  :  1-10  the  ^^  Anointed  One  was 
promised  to  preach  glad  tidings  to  the  poor,  to  bind 
up  the  broken-hearted,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the 


BEFORE   THE    EXILE.  121 

captives,  the  opening  of  prison  doors,  the  acceptable 
year  of  Jehovah,  and  His  day  of  vengeance  ;  also  to 
comfort  the  mourners,  meeting  them  in  Zion,  and 
changing  their  heaviness  into  joy  and  rejoicing  : 
they  should  become  the  planted  of  the  Lord,  and 
He  gloritied  in  them.  Former  wastes  were  to  be 
repaired,  new  priests  were  to  be  named,  the  covenant 
was  to  be  renewed,  and  national  renown  secured." 
And  to  emphasize  the  assurance  of  all  this  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  descends  upon  the  preacher  to 
encourage  devout  seekers  after  Him.  For  reproach 
and  confusion  they  shall  repossess  their  lands  and 
rejoice  in  their  portion.  As  a  bride  and  bride- 
groom, so  should  they  adorn  themselves  and  become 
a  praise  before  all  nations. 

This  is  strongly  accentuated  to  the  penitent  : 
*'  For  Zion's  sake  will  I  not  hold  my  peace,  and  for 
Jerusalem's  I  will  not  rest,  until  her  righteousness 
go  forth  as  brightness,  and  her  salvation  as  a  lamp 
that  burnetii.  .  .  And  thou  shalt  be  called  by  a 
new  name — viz.,  Beulah  :  for  Jehovah  delighteth 
in  thee,  and  thy  land  shall  be  married.  .  .  Thou 
shalt  be  a  crown  of  beauty  and  a  royal  diadem  in 
the  hand  of  the  Lord  thy  God"  (62  :  1-5).  These 
promises  of  glory  and  blessedness  are  continued 
throughout  the  chapter.  It  describes  the  watchman 
of  Jehovah,  and  His  sworn  pledge  to  Jerusalem  : 
her  sanctuary  shall  be  honored  by  those  who  gath- 
ered and  garnered  her  people's  harvests.  So  it 
came  to  pass  under  Persian  kings  :  "  Say  ye  to  the 
6 


122  THE   WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

daughter  of  Zion,  Behold,  thy  salvation  cometh  ; 
behold,  his  reward  is  with  him,  and  his  recompense 
before  him."  This  cannot  be  said  of  Cyrus.  Yet 
the  holy  people,  "  the  redeemed  of  the  Lokd,  shall 
be  called,  sought  out,  a  city  not  forsaken"  (verses 
6-12). 

As  did  other  prophets,  as  did  our  Lord,  the  writer 
here  blends  and  connects  the  deliverer  of  Israel 
from  captivity  with  the  Redeemer  of  the  world, 
who  should  tread  the  winepress  alone  for  its  salva- 
tion ;  it  was  the  grand  symbolization  of  Redemp- 
tion. To  call  it  a  rhetorical  statement  of  facts  may 
leave  us  its  poetry,  but  poetry  without  meaning. 
As  mere  history,  its  point  and  essence  evaporate. 
The  traveller  from  Edom,  with  crimsoned  garments, 
described  in  chapter  63,  is  far  more  than  a  glori- 
ously apparelled  prince  :  "  He  is  strong,  He  is  right- 
eous, mighty  to  save  :  His  garments  are  sprinkled 
with  lifeblood.  He  looked,  and  there  was  none  to 
help  ;  therefore  His  arm  brought  salvation  ;  He 
trode  down  the  peoples  in  anger,  made  them  drunk 
in  his  fury,  and  poured  out  their  lifeblood  on 
the  earth"  (verses  1-6).  Even  if  this  can  be  said 
of  Cyrus,  the  rest  of  the  chapter  cannot  be  so 
applied — viz.,  the  praises  of  Jehovah  and  His  mer- 
cies ;  the  rebellion  of  the  people  and  their  affliction  ; 
the  Angel  of  his  presence  who  saved  them,  the  love 
and  pity  that  redeemed  Israel  ;  that  bare  them,  and 
carried  them  all  the  days  of  old  ;  the  reference  to 
Moses  and  his  works,  dividing  the  water  and  lead- 


BEFORE  THE  EXILE.  123 

ing  his  people  through  the  depths  ;  the  prayer  for 
the  return  of  the  Tribes,  so  passionately  implored 
in  verse  17 — all  this  is  without  meaning  as  applied 
to  Cyrus,  and  it  was  not  fulfilled  in  the  Restoration 
under  him.  Nor  is  there  any  proper  comparison 
between  him  and  Moses  in  verse  11. 

With  verse  18,  and  continuing  to  the  end  of  chap- 
ter 64,  is  a  different  treatment  of  a  similar  theme. 
The  holy  people  are  said  to  have  possessed  their 
heritage  but  a  little  while,  when  their  adversaries 
trode  down  the  sanctuary,  and  they  became  as 
though  God  never  bare  rule  over  them,  and  they 
were  not  called  by  His  name.  These  conditions  did 
not  exist  under  the  Persian  kings,  unless  applicable 
to  the  evils  wrought  by  Sanballet  and  Tobiah,  exag- 
gerated reports  of  which  may  have  come  to  some 
prophet  of  the  Exile  ;  and  hence  this  passionate  ap- 
peal to  Jehovah  :  Oh,  that  He  would  rend  the 
heavens,  let  the  mountains  burn,  that  He  would 
descend  as  upon  Sinai,  and  make  the  nations  tremble 
at  His  presence  !  The  language  is  too  strong  to 
be  spoken  of  relief  from  any  local  distress  in  Judaea 
during  the  Persian  supremacy.  It  must  belong  to 
the  era  just  before  the  destruction  by  Babylon,  or 
look  forward  to  the  troubles  under  Antiochus  £pi- 
phanes,  or  under  Titus  and  the  Romans.  And  the 
writer  proceeds  with  historic  allusions  to  God's  ter- 
ribleness,  that  He  requires  loyalty,  recognizing  none 
besides  Him  ;  how  He  meeteth  the  doer  of  right- 
eousness ;  how  He  was  wroth  against  sinners  ;  how 


124  THE    WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

He  would  pardon  their  iniquities,  and  restore  their 
beautiful  house,  then  represented  as*  desolate  and 
burned  with  fire.  Tiie  last  point  may  be  a  pro- 
phetic time  mark,  showing  it  was  uttered  before 
586  B.C.  It  certainly  was  not  said  of  accomplished 
promises  to  gather  captives  already  returned  ! 
Yerses  10  and  11  prove  that. 

Must  it  not  be  considered  in  relation  with  the 
idolatry  denounced  in  chapter  44  ?  "Be  not  wroth 
very  sore,  O  Lord,  neitlier  remember  iniquity  for 
ever.  Thou  art  our  Father"  (64  :  8,  9).  Com- 
pare 44  :  21-24.  Yet  as  sure  as  that  the  Hebrew 
exiles  did  not  worship  graven  images  in  Babylon, 
of  which  Daniel  and  his  friends  are  examples,  so 
sure  the  temple  was  not  burned  nor  Jerusalem  a 
desolation  when  44  :  6-20  was  written.  Indeed, 
I  prefer  to  regard  chapter  64  as  a  work  of  Daniel, 
related  to  Dan.  9  :  1-19,  which  has  been  misplaced 
by  some  copyist  of  the  time  of  Ezra,  and  so  fitted  in 
where  we  find  it,  than  to  relegate  the  second  grand 
division  of  Isaiah  to  a  period  after  the  destruction  of 
city  and  temple  by  Nebuchadnezzar.  Or  we  may 
consider  it  a  prayer  of  Ezekiel,  following  Ezek.  39  : 
29,  which  has  been  misplaced  ;  or  the  effusion  of 
some  other  prophet  before  the  Restoration,  rather 
than  allow  it  to  drag  its  now  connected  chapters  to 
a  time  when  they  lose  their  meaning.  It  was  cer- 
tainly written  before  Cyrus,  and  so  is  not  history. 
Yet,  as  is  tersely  said,  "  A  word  of  history  is  worth 
a  mountain  of  theory' ' — a  rule  to  be  applied  to  the 


BEFORE   THE   EXILE.  125 

exposition  of  prophecy.  Bat  some  are  so  misled  by 
a  theory,  now  touching  prophecy,  now  legislation, 
now  the  development  of  theology  in  Israel,  and 
now  to  make  history  of  a  Second  Isaiah,  that  they 
ignore  contemporary  facts  and  records  which  ilhis- 
trate  this  period  of  the  Hebrews,  and  so  they  can- 
not interpret  Hebrew  prophecy  aright. 

However  my  suggestion  may  be  regarded  by 
those  competent  to  judge,  I  am  free  to  confess  tliat 
Is.  64  seems  to  be  a  prayer  prophecy,  uttered  when 
Judah  was  in  Exile  and  her  temple  in  ruins  ;  ut- 
tered before  her  return  and  before  the  restoration 
of  Zion.  It  is  not  an  interpolation  for  a  purpose, 
but  a  reverent  misplacement  of  a  passage,  when 
such  misplacement  was  easy.  But  it  was  before 
Cyrus  that  Jehovah  was  invoked  to  rend  the  heavens, 
shake  the  mountains,  and  make  His  name  terrible 
to  the  nations,  even  as  He  appeared  at  Sinai  (64  : 
1,  2). 

My  suggestion,  therefore,  connects  63  :  17  with 
65  :  1.  Thus  the  related  passages  of  a  Suffering 
Messiah  who  delivers  Israel  and  redeems  the  world, 
are  linked  to  that  which  makes  Him  inquired  after 
by  those  who  sought  Him  not ;  first  by  the  Persians 
and  later  by  the  Greeks.  They  fit  well  togetlier. 
Then  the  writer  returns  to  treat  of  Judah,  when  her 
people  wrought  abomination  and  were  rebellious  : 
sacrificing  in  gardens,  burning  incense  upon  bricks, 
eating  swine's  flesh  and  broth  of  abominable  things  ; 
they  were  idolaters,  yet  conspicuous  for  their  self- 


126  THE   WRITER  OF   ISAIAH 

righteousness.  **  I  will  recompense  into  their 
bosom,  saith  Jehovah,  them  that  have  burned  in- 
cense upon  the  mountains,  and  blasphemed,  or  de- 
fied me  upon  the  hills  :  1  will  measure  their  work 
into  their  bosom"  (verses  2-7).  Yet  because  of 
the  loyal  and  faithful  among  them,  a  seed  of  Jacob 
and  of  Judali  shall  inherit  the  good  land  promised 
to  their  fathers.  Sharon  and  Achor  shall  pasture 
their  flocks  ;  but  they  who  follow  Fortune  and 
Destiny  as  gods  shall  fall  by  the  sword  ;  because 
when  the  Lord  called  they  would  not  regard  it 
(65  :  8-12). 

It  suggests  what  St.  Paul  says  of  the  rejection  of 
the  Jew  and  the  calling  of  the  Gentile,  that  Israel 
may  be  saved.  The  old  leaven  of  truth  remaining 
among  them  shall  lead  to  their  rehabilitation.  God 
will  create  Jerusalem  a  rejoicing,  and  her  people  a 
joy  ;  He  will  rejoice  in  them.  They  shall  reap 
the  fruit  of  their  labors  and  dwell  in  their  own 
houses.  Jehovah  will  anticipate  their  needs,  and 
hear  before  they  call.  Even  the  brute  creation  shall 
be  blessed  :  the  wolf  and  the  lamb,  the  lion  and  the 
ox,  shall  be  companions.  The  serpent  shall  not  hurt, 
none  shall  destroy  in  the  holy  mountain,  saith  the 
LoKD  (65  :  13-25).  For,  behold,  ''  I  create  new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth."  Historically,  this  has 
not  been  fulfilled.  It  seems  to  anticipate  the  tri- 
umph of  the  principles  unfolded  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  But  even  then  children  may  die,  and 
old  men  before  reaching  a  century  of  years.     The 


BEFORE  THE   EXILE.  127 

new  creation,  however,  is  shown  to  be  a  conditional 
renovation  for  Jerusalem  and  her  people,  but  it 
was  a  condition  which  they  never  reah'zed,  because 
of  their  disobedience. 

Chapter  GG  begins  to  correct  the  material  pros- 
perity which  was  erroneously  expected  from  the 
passage  commencing  at  verse  17  of  chapter  65. 
The  new  dispensation  to  be  introduced  by  Him 
whose  throne  is  heaven,  and  whose  footstool  the 
earth,  will  need  no  temple  like  that  wliich  Solomon 
built  ;  for  the  Most  High  dwelleth  not  in  temples 
made  with  hands  ;  neither  is  worshipped  as  though 
He  needed  anything  (Acts  17  :  2i,  25);  what  sort 
of  house  will  ye  build  for  Him  ?  and  where  shall 
He  be  located  ?  His  own  hand  hath  made  all 
things,  saith  Jehovah.  Then  the  new  creation  is 
described  as  the  Lord  dwelling  in  the  heart  of  a 
poor  and  contrite  man,  who  trembles  at  His  word, 
by  anxiety  to  obey  it.  Thus  our  Lord  in  St.  John 
4  :  24,  ^'  God  is  a  Spirit  ;  and  they  that  worship 
Him  must  worship  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth." 
He  needs  no  temple  of  mechanical  design  and 
workmanship,  but  is  content  to  abide  in  the  hearts 
of  His  faithful  people. 

This  new  and  spiritual  teaching  is  then  illustrated 
by  the  prophet^'s  comparison  of  it  with  the  former 
system  wherein  material  acts  were  of  chief  impor- 
tance ;  but  under  the  new  system,  the  cruelty  of 
killing  an  ox  is  likened  to  the  slaying  of  a  man  ; 
the  sacrificing  a  lamb  to  breaking  the  neck  of  a 


128  THE   WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

dog  ;  the  offering  an  oblation  was  deiilement  like 
offering  swine's  blood  :  even  to  burn  incense  was 
materialism  like  idolatry.  Yet  this  people  "  choose 
their  own  methods,  and  their  soul  delighteth  in 
their  abominations."  They  do  not  accept  what  I 
have  offered  them.  "  I  also  will  choose  their  de- 
lusions, and  will  bring  their  fears  upon  them  ;  be- 
cause when  I  called  none  did  answer ;  when  1 
spake  they  did  not  hear  ;  but  they  did  that  which 
was  evil  in  mine  eyes,  and  chose  that  wherein  I  de- 
lighted not. "  The  reader  will  now  see  how  utterly 
different  is  this  part  of  the  prophet's  discourse  from 
much  that  has  preceded  it.  He  has  leaped  beyond 
the  Jerusalem  temple,  beyond  Judsea,  to  have  his 
Lord  found  of  them  who  sought  Him  not.  The 
reference  is  back  to  chapter  65,  where  Persians  and 
Greeks  and  other  Gentiles — nations  not  called  by 
the  Divine  name — now  inquire  for  Jehovah  and 
the  new  covenant  which  He  has  made  with  man. 
This  new  dispensation  has  nothing  to  do  with 
Cyrus,  nor  with  anything  he  did,  or  failed  to  do, 
for  Israel,  Israel  the  called  and  the  rejected. 

Another  matter  is  connected  with  it  for  those  who 
hear  the  Lord's  word  :  "  Your  brethren  that  hated 
you,  that  cast  you  out  for  My  name's  sake,  have 
said,  Let  Jehovah  be  glorified,  that  we  may  see 
your  joy  ;  but  they  shall  be  ashamed."  We,  your 
brethren  of  Ephraim,  have  seen  Baal  fall  in  Sama- 
ria ;  let  us  see  your  joy.  No,  you  shall  be  ashamed  ! 
What,  says   the    prophet,   do  you   not   remember 


BEFORE  THE    EXILE.  120 

the  'Woice  of  tuimilt  from  the  city,"  when  Sen- 
nacherib besieged  it  witli  his  200,000  men,  and 
the  '^  voice  of  prayer  from  the  temple,"  when 
Hezekiah  spread  his  blasphemous  letter  before  Je- 
hovah, and  the  voice  which  told  that  He  would  be 
avenged  upon  His  enemies  and  deliver  His  peo- 
ple ?  Even  before  they  suffered  from  the  siege 
they  were  delivered.  Not  an  arrow  was  shot  at 
them,  not  a  drop  of  their  blood  was  shed  before 
deliverance  came  to  Jerusalem.  The  blatant  boast- 
ers heard  a  rumor  and  escaped  as  fast  as  possible. 
They  were  utterly  discomfited.  Before  the  pain 
of  travail,  because  of  the  siege,  came  upon  the  city 
the  siege  was  raised,  and  the  invaders  tied  away. 
Jerusalem  rejoiced,  and  all  that  loved  her  also  re- 
joiced. Baal  had  fallen,  but  Jehovah  had  tri- 
umphed. Those  of  Ephraim  who  saw  it  were 
ashamed,  but  Judah  rejoiced. 

This,  I  suggest,  may  be  the  exposition  of  Q6  : 
6-10.  It  meets  all  the  points  named  in  the  text. 
Every  element  is  verified,  every  requirement  an- 
swered ;  even  the  figurative  comparison  is  accounted 
for  in  each  particular.  The  conditional  element 
does  not  here  exist.  When  the  prophet  wrote  it 
was  recent  history,  and  it  is  a  time  mark  of  that 
fact.  Of  no  other  epoch  is  it  applicable  ;  not  to 
Nebuchadnezzar,  and  he  suffered  no  defeat  ;  not  to 
any  later  time  of  trouble  in  Jerusalem,  or  of  the 
rebuilding  of  Zion.  All  the  conditions  find  their 
yerification  when  the  Assyrian  sent  his  defiant  mes- 
6* 


130  THE   WHITER   OF   ISAIAH 

sage  to  King  Hezekiah,  and  he  spread  it  before  the 
Lord  in  the  temple.  Compare  Nebuchadnezzar 
before  Bel  Merodach.  Jehovah  triumphed,  for  the 
cause  was  really  His.  And  that  wonderful  deliv- 
erance, which  the  writer  compares  to  an  easy  ac- 
couchement of  the  daughter  of  Zion,  made  a  deep 
impression  upon  the  people.  It  was  the  talk  of  the 
city. 

With  this  grand  event  in  mind  the  prophet  gives 
assurance  of  the  final  deliverance  of  Judab  from 
all  her  foes,  and  from  all  her  sins.  Her  peace  shall 
be  like  a  river,  and  all  her  wants  shall  be  satisfied. 
As  one  whom  his  mother  comforteth,  so  will  Je- 
hovah comfort  her,  and  she  shall  be  comforted  in 
Jerusalem  (66  :  10-14).  Sennacherib  had  defied 
the  Lord  ;  had  compared  the  gods  of  even  con- 
quered nations  to  Him.  AVherefore  Tarshish,  Pul, 
Lud,  Tubal,  Javan,  and  the  isles  afar  off  should 
hear  of  the  fame  and  glory  of  Jehovah  in  rescuing 
His  people.  He  would  come  with  fire  and  sword, 
with  chariots  like  a  whirlwind,  having  great  indig- 
nation against  His  enemies,  and  the  slain  of  the 
Lord  shall  be  many.  Men  must  sanctify  them- 
selves and  purify  themselves  from  all  idolatry,  from 
eating  swine's  flesh  and  the  mouse  as  a  religious 
act,  and  offer  a  pure  offering  in  the  holy  mountain 
Jerusalem,  saith  Jehovah,  even  as  Israel  bring  their 
offering  in  a  clean  vessel  into  the  house  of  the  Lord. 
And  of  the  Gentiles  will  He  take  for  priests  and 
for  Levites.     But  when  ?     Clearly,  as  in  verse  22^ 


BEFORE   THE    EXILE.  131 

when  Jehovah  makes  the  new  heavens  and  the  new 
earth — i.e.,  when  He  estabh'shes  the  new  system  of 
a  more  spiritual  religion  ;  not  when  lie  has  restored 
the  Hebrews  from  captivity. 

The  writer,  like  St.  Paul,  leaps  from  theme  to 
theme.  Now  he  speaks  of  deliverance  from  the 
Assyrian,  now  of  Jehovah  in  Jerusalem  being 
mightier  than  Baal  in  Samaria,  and  of  the  comfort 
He  gives  to  His  people  ;  then  he  will  have  Jehovah 
glorified  among  the  Gentiles,  and  they  shall  wor- 
ship Him  with  pure  offerings  on  Mount  Zion — yea, 
the  time  comet h  when  He  will  take  of  them  to  be 
His  priests  and  Levites.  In  verse  23  he  indicates 
how  and  when  the  Gentiles — yea,  all  flesh,  shall 
worship  Him  ;  and  they  shall  see  the  carcasses  of  the 
transgressors  against  Him  (verse  2^1:).  So  it  came 
to  pass. 

The  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy  was  realized  in 
part  after  the  return  from  Exile.  Cyrus,  Darius, 
Artaxerxes,  even  Alexander  the  Great,  all  did  honor 
to  the  God  of  the  Hebrews.  They  restored  their 
sacred  things  which  had  been  captured,  and  their 
national  privileges  w^iich  had  been  forfeited.  They 
made  provision  for  rebuilding  the  temple  and  the 
resumption  of  its  sacrifices,  "  that  they  may  offer 
sacrifices  of  sweet  savor  unto  the  God  of  heaven, 
and  pray  for  the  life  of  the  king,  and  of  his  sons." 
(See  Ezra  6  :  1-12  ;  1  :  1-11.)  Thus  Jehovah  was 
honored  by  Cyrus  and  by  Darius.  After  that  Ar- 
taxerxes ordered  to  teach  those  who  knew  not  the 


132  THE    WRITER   OF   ISAIAH 

laws  of  God  (Ezra  7  :  25).  How  Alexander  hon- 
ored Him  is  stated  in  Josephiis  and  briefly  ntilized 
in  ''  BiWe  Growth  and  Religion,"  pp.  232,  233. 
How  the  opposition  of  Sanballet  and  Tobiah,  men- 
tioned in  Neh.  2  :  10,  was  frustrated,  we  learn  in 
the  first  part  of  that  chapter.  It,  in  fact,  empha- 
sizes the  fostering  care  of  three  Persian  kings,  who, 
bj  decree  and  by  deputy,  fulfilled  Is.  6^  :  19  and 
23.     The  reader  should  consult  the  references. 

As  in  the  destruction  wrought  by  Assyrian,  Baby- 
lonian, and  Persian  armies,  all  the  threats  of  verses 
15  and  16  were  fulfilled,  so  in  the  rebuilding  of 
Jerusalem  and  the  restoration. of  the  temple  and  its 
sacrifices  under  Cyrus,  Darius,  and  Artaxerxes,  all 
the  nursing  care  promised  in  verses  10-14  found  ac- 
complishment. Even  the '' all  flesh"  of  verse  23 
was  largely  realized  by  the  injunction  of  Darius,  to 
*'  pray  for  the  life  of  the  king,  and  of  his  sons"  in 
the  daily  service  of  the  temple  (Ezra  6  :  10).  For 
then  Darius  represented  the  civilized  world,  except 
Greece  ;  Rome  had  not  yet  become  a  power  ;  and 
the  successor  of  Cambyses  as  King  of  the  Medes  and 
Persians  was  also  King  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria, 
of  Syria  and  Judaea,  of  Egypt  also,  governing  it  by 
deputy. 

Xerxes  I.  succeeded  him,  and  fulfilled  Isaiah 
46  :  1,  for  he  plundered  the  temple  of  Bel  and  other 
shrines  at  Babylon,  and  carried  off  their  images, 
which  he  probably  melted  into  money.  They  bowed 
and  crouched  before  him  in  the  coinage.     Orelli 


BEFORE   THE    EXILE.  133 

sajs  Artaxerxes  carried  off  Bel  and  Nebo  ;  but  ac- 
cording to  Herodotus,  who  is  sustained  by  Rawlin- 
son,  P.  Smith,  and  hiter  still  by  Professor  Sayce, 
this  was  done  by  Xerxes  I.  about  485  b.c,  when 
making  his  vast  preparations  for  the  war  against 
Greece.  Then  he  seized  the  treasures  of  Babylon, 
with  their  gods  of  gold  and  shrines  of  silver.  It 
was  a  full  century  after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem.  It 
is  another  authentication  of  prophecy.  But  it  was 
done  as  a  punishment  upon  a  people  who  often  re- 
belled against  the  Persian  rule,  and  whose  priests 
were  made  to  suffer  for  their  part  in  conspiring 
against  the  government  and  inviting  Cyrus  to  be- 
come their  chief.  It  was  the  priests  of  Babylon 
who  compassed  the  overthrow  of  Nabonidus.  They 
had  excited  the  people  against  him  ;  they  rebelled 
against  the  successors  of  Cyrus,  and  now  Xerxes 
despoiled  their  temples,  and  left  their  priests  with- 
out a  sanctuary. 

Thus  the  prophecy  was  fulfilled,  even  if  a  thor- 
ough clearance  of  idolatry  from  the  country  was  not 
effected.  For  the  Persians  were  not  in  the  habit  of 
interfering  with  the  religion  of  subject  peoples,  un- 
less their  priests  were  suspected  of  fomenting  dis- 
cord, as  in  Babylon  and  in  Egypt.  With  the  Jews 
there  was  no  religious  opposition  to  the  Persians, 
and  their  theology  was  singularly  alike.  Chapter 
QQ  :  23  is  also  fulfilled,  as  is  19  :  19,  by  the  erec- 
tion of  a  temple  like  that  at  Jerusalem  in  Egypt. 
It  was  within  the  sanctuary  of  old  Bubastis,  where 


134  THE    WRITER   OF    ISAIAH 

Onias  was  permitted  by  the  king  to  set  up  an  altar 
to  Jehovah,  and  there  daily  to  celebrate  a  worship 
only  a  little  less  elaborate  than  that  in  the  temple 
of  Jerusalem.  This  continued  in  that  old  Egyp- 
tian nome  Heliopolis,  from  170  B.C.  to  73  a.d., 
when  it  was  destroyed  by  the  Romans.  See  ''  Bible 
Growth  and  Religion,"  pp.  205,  233,  254,  and 
Josephus  ad  loo.  In  the  slaughter  at  Babylon  by 
the  conspiracy  against  Nabonidus,  and  the  several 
punishments  inflicted  upon  her  for  later  rebellions, 
not  to  go  as  late  as  the  conquest  of  Alexander,  there 
was  at  least  a  measurable  fulfilment  of  Is.  ^^  :  24. 

Wherefore,  to  relegate  this  whole  division  of  the 
work  to  a  period  which  makes  it  history,  and  not 
prophecy,  is  a  serious  perversion  of  the  text,  a  part 
of  which  refers  to  701  b.c,  and  a  part  to  Cyrus,  a 
part  to  Darius  in  519,  his  second  year  (Ezra  4  :  24), 
and  a  part  to  Xerxes  in  485,  and  a  part  to  Arta- 
xerxes  in  his  twentieth  year,  or  about  445  e.g.  As 
history  it  covers  a  period  of  256  years  ;  and,  if 
from  an  unknown  author,  could  not  then  have  been 
admitted  to  a  place  with  the  earlier  chapters  of 
Isaiah.  Its  admission  there  certifies  to  its  early 
writing. 

I  have  shown  the  date  of  the  fall  of  Bel  and 
Kebo,  and  that  no  such  writer  as  was  the  accom- 
plished author  of  chapters  40-66  could  write  the 
denunciations  against  graven  images  contained  in 
chapters  40,  44,  and  other  passages  after  586  b.c. 
I  have  conceded  that  63.:  18-64  :  12  may  be  anun- 


BEFORE   THE    EXILE.  1135 

Explained  misplacement  of  a  later  prophet.  The 
comparison  of  Jehovah  with  graven  images,  and 
what  is  said  of  Bel  and  Nebo,  of  nursing  kings  for 
Jndah,  of  Cyrus  and  the  slain  of  the  Lord,  all  this 
was  years  before  the  Restoration,  before  Darius  re- 
quested prayers  in  Jerusalem  *'  for  the  life  of  the 
king,  and  of  his  sons,"  and  before  Artaxerxes  en- 
joined upon  Nehemiah  to  teach  the  ignorant  the 
laws  of  God  in  that  land.  The  prophetic  portions 
were  probably  written  soon  after  the  invasion  by 
Sennacherib,  which  caused  a  tumult  in  the  city, 
also  the  prayer  of  Hezekiah  in  the  temple,  and  the 
avenging  of  Jehovah  upon  the  Assyrians  suggested 
in  QQ  :  Q  '^  37  :  1-35.  It  surely  could  not  have 
been  written  when  the  temple  lay  in  ruins.  Nor 
could  the  remonstrances  against  idols  have  been 
written  after  they  had  been  destroyed  in  Babylon, 
and  had  long  ceased  in  Judaea.  Making  it  history 
creates  insuperable  difficulties,  which  disappear 
when  regarded  as  prophecy.  To  put  the  writing  of 
it  soon  after  700  b.c.  makes  it  a  w^onderful  com- 
position of  an  inspired  prophet,  while  to  place  it 
about  485  or  445  b.c.  makes  it  a  marvellous  rhap- 
sody, without  coherence  or  possible  explanation,  of 
which  no  theory  of  a  "  conditional  element"  per- 
vading it  is  an  approximate  solution. 

To  say  that  the  passages  describing  a  suffering 
Messiah  and  the  Messiah  regnant  and  triumphant 
were  fulfilled  before  444  b.c.  is  hardly  paying  "  a 
decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of  mankind."     If 


136  THE   WRITER   OF    ISAIAH 

the  writer  were  not  Isaiah  of  Jerusalem,  he  must 
have  flourished  in  the  latter  part  of  that  era,  being 
a  jiiniop  companion  prophet,  and,  like  him,  possess- 
ing all  kinds  of  talent  and  all  beauties  of  discourse, 
treating  of  Redemption  Promised,  of  Redemp- 
tive Accompaniments,  and  of  Redemption  in  its 
realization. 

Very  early  all  that  now  forms  the  Book  of  Isaiah 
was  closely  connected  in  ms.  It  was  enrolled  as 
canonical  before  the  close  of  the  prophetic  era, 
which  proves  as  sure  as  dawn  precedes  the  day  its 
ancient  authentication.  Divine  Inspiration  is  evi- 
dent all  through  the  Book,  and  elucidates  its  con- 
tents— tlie  vision  in  chapter  6  and  QQ  :  6.  The 
Divine  voice  attests  the  later  as  well  as  the  earlier 
chapters,  and  the  later  as  well  as  the  earliest  Biblical 
Books.  It  chose  Abraham  rather  than  any  other 
Semite  ;  it  chose  Isaac  rather  than  Ishmael,  Jacob 
rather  than  Esau,  and  the  tribe  of  Judah  as  the  line 
whence  the  Messiah  should  descend,  rather  than 
Jacob's  first-born.  And  so  Inspired  Prophecy  and 
Miraculous  Events  were  required  for  the  grand  ac- 
complishment of  those  ancient  choosings.  The  sub- 
ject really  is  not  Israel,  nor  Cyrus,  not  Exile,  or 
return  from  it,  but  Preparation  for  the  Redemp- 
tion of  the  world  '^  Hebrew  election  and  Gentile 
calling,  temple  sacrifices  and  prophetic  deliverances 
being  necessary  elements  in  the  great  preparation 
of  two  thousand  years.  See  this  wrought  out  in 
**  Bible  Growth  and  Religion." 


BEFORE   THE    EXILE.  137 

My  plan  did  not  include  a  notice  of  those  writers 
who  differ  from  me,  which  confuses  the  ordinary 
reader,  and  is  not  needed  by  the  learned.  Yet  I 
must  mention  Canon  Driver,  who  in  his  "  Life  and 
Times  of  Isaiah,"  as  I  understand  him,  holds  that 
those  grand  chapters,  40-66,  relate  to  One  who  was 
a  Deliverer  of  Israel /'r6>m  captivity^  and  would  not 
allow  the  Bahylonians  to  restrain  them  from  re- 
turning to  Palestine.  They  shall  return  in  grand 
processions,  and  Zion  shall  be  rebuilt  !  But  is  not 
that  rather  small  work  for  which  to  invoke  Him 
who  inhabiteth  Eternity,  calling  to  the  Isles  and  the 
nations  afar  off  to  behold  His  wonders  ?  Erelong: 
those  Babylonians  ceased  to  be  a  nation,  and  the  Per- 
sians possessed  their  lands.  Never  could  the  isles 
of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  nor  the  distant  nations 
hear  the  prophet  east  of  the  Euphrates  !  Even 
when  scattered  through  the  empire  before  Babylon 
fell,  no  large  assembly  of  Hebrews  could  be  gath- 
ered into  one  place  where  the  prophet  might  ad- 
dress them  ;  and  it  were  useless  for  him  to  lift  up 
his  voice  or  cry  unto  widely  scattered  captives  ! 
Of  course,  the  prophecy  is  in  poetic  style,  but  its 
language  has  the  ordinary  meaning.  Applied  to 
residents  in  the  cities  of  Judaea  before  the  Exile,  it 
is  easily  understood  ;  but  to  assign  it  to  a  time  when 
Judah  was  scattered  over  the  empire  obscures  the 
sense.     The  learned  canon  overlooks  this. 

Nor  does  he  explain  chapter  53  according  to  the 
demands  of  the  text.     It  confessedly  is  not  applic- 


138  THE   WRITER   OF   ISAIAH. 

able  to  any  one,  except  the  rejected  and  crucified 
Christ.  For  Jehovah  did  not  lay  our  iniquity  on 
Cyrus  ;  nor  was  he  oppressed  and  dumb  under  it, 
like  a  sheep  in  the  hands  of  her  shearers.  He  was 
not  taken  away  by  oppression  and  an  unjust  judg- 
ment, nor  cut  off  prematurely,  nor  stricken  for 
Israel.  Not  for  Cyrus  did  they  make  a  grave  with 
the  wicked,  and  with  the  rich  in  his  death.  Nor 
did  the  Lord  bruise  him  and  put  him  to  grief  ;  nor 
was  he  ever  made  a  sin-offering  for  the  people. 
The  whole  chapter  is  singularly  inapplicable  to 
Cyrus.     Head  it  in  the  Revised  Version. 

Of  Isaiah  61,  St.  Luke  tells  us  that  our  Lord  ap- 
plied the  first  verses  to  Himself,  thus  :  ^'  To-day 
hath  this  Scripture  been  fulfilled  in  your  ears"  (St. 
Luke  4  :  16-23,  Revised  Version).  The  authority 
is  supreme  and  absolute,  that  it  could  not  have  been 
fulfilled  in  the  time  of  Cyrus.  Our  Lord  forecloses 
all  doubt  as  to  its  meaning  and  application.  I  pre- 
sume Canon  Driver  will  acknowledge  its  force  and 
obligation. 


iir. 


THE  SCIENTIFIC   METHOD  APPLIED   TO 
THE  BIBLE. 

It  is  only  in  illustration  of  our  subject  to  say  that 
we  regard  the  foregoing  pages  as  the  outcome  of 
the  findings,  if  not  in  strict  logical  sequence  of  fol- 
lowing the  scientific  method  in  such  themes.  For 
science  has  been  well  defined  to  be  the  knowledge 
of  the  laws  which  govern  phenomena.  It  is  not 
the  law  nor  the  phenomena,  but  the  knowledge  of 
those  laws  which  govern  the  manifestations  of  na- 
ture. Hence  science  is  knowledge,  and  not  agnos- 
ticism. It  is  what  men  have  learned  and  know 
touching  this  or  the  other  matter.  Hence  it  is  the 
product  of  experience  and  of  experiment.  Such 
science  we  may  apply  to  Revelation  and  to  Biblical 
exegesis,  the  Bible  being  received  upon  the  testi- 
mony of  disinterested  and  truthful  men.  Bible 
religion  began  anew  with  Abraham,  who  had  no 
motive  to  deceive  his  child. 

1.  All  true  history  is  the  record  of  what  others 
or  we  oui-selves  have  done  ;  the  transcript  of  human 
phenomena  and  achievements  ;    the  knowledge  of 


140  THE   SCIENTIFIC    METHOD 

wliat  has  been  or  is  being  done.  Some  one  lias 
thought,  has  spoken,  has  put  the  word  into  deed  ; 
and  the  record  and  sequence  of  that  is  science  in 
history,  in  the  Bible,  in  religion.  It  is  not  a  jum- 
ble nor  an  aggregate,  but  sequence  in  nature,  in 
man,  in  the  revelations  and  unfoldings  of  Deity. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  science  in  nature,  for 
nature  does  not  know,  it  simply  is.  But  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  and  manifestations  of  nature  is 
scientific.  Natural  science  is  our  knowledge  of  the 
laws  which  govern  nature,  or  its  manifestations. 
But  science  cannot  affirm  or  deny  the  alleged  dream 
of  Alexander  at  Dium,  nor  the  crossing  of  the  Ru- 
bicon by  Caesar,  nor  the  signing  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  by  our  fathers.  Still  our  knowl- 
edge of  history  may  suggest  similar  occurrences  ; 
as  that  of  the  Barons  of  England  obtaining  Magna 
Charta  from  King  John,  the  invasion  of  Italy  by 
Hannibal,  and  the  dream  of  Philip  of  Macedon. 
Thus  our  knowledge  enables  us  to  probe  and  test 
the  evidence  upon  which  a  certain  dream  rests,  or 
a  plunge  was  made,  or  a  treaty  was  signed. 

2.  With  a  priori,  or  a  posteriori  probabilities  our 
science  has  little  to  do,  except  so  far  as  our  knowl- 
edge is  concerned.  Thus  2  X  2  =  4  is  perhaps 
eternally  true,  and  never  will  be  3  or  5.  Also  that 
water  below  32°  freezes  on  our  planet.  Observa- 
tion and  testimony  certify  to  this,  and  history  tells 
us  it  has  been  so  since  the  beginning  of  human 
records  or  of  geologic  time.     Our  a  jpriori  notions 


APPLIED   TO   THE   BIBLE.  141 

are  corrected  by  experiences.  Men  and  women  of 
the  same  temperament  and  characteristics  are  not 
alwajs  the  most  happy  in  wedlock.  The  greatest 
of  our  race  have  left  rather  feeble  successors  :  Peri- 
cles, Alexander,  Cfesar,  Cicero,  Shakespeare,  Mil- 
ton, Goethe,  Cromwell,  Washington,  Napoleon, 
Gibbon,  Hume,  Johnson,  Carlyle,  etc.  Even  in 
Bible  story,  Moses,  Joshua,  Samuel,  and  other 
prophets,  John  Baptist,  St.  John  and  St.  Paul,  left 
no  heirs  of  mark  or  distinguished  merit.  Nor  will 
our  expectations  be  realized  if  we  look  for  the  fin- 
est potatoes,  the  choicest  cabbages,  and  the  fairest 
flowers  from  seeds  of  the  largest  and  most  per- 
fect of  their  several  kinds.  Here  experience — i.e., 
science  tells  us  that  by  the  law  of  reversion  the 
very  finest  seeds  usually  produce  the  poorest  crops 
in  return.  Nature  exhausts  herself,  and  so  teaches 
us  to  correct  our  otherwise  reasonable  expectations. 
The  farmer  and  gardener  learn  from  their  elders. 

So  of  natural  science  :  Kepler's  law  of  the  plan- 
etary distances,  Newton's  law  of  the  force  of  attrac- 
tion, with  sundry  calculation  tables,  come  to  our 
knowledge  and  to  the  mass  of  mankind  upon  the 
testimony  of  others.  We  know  them  only  at  second 
hand.  Learned  professors  and  their  humblest 
scholars  depend  upon  lists  and  classifications  w^hich 
others  had  made  for  them.  They  have  not  proved 
them.  Libraries  of  large  volumes  may  be  filled 
with  the  names  of  plants,  insects,  birds,  fishes,  mam- 
mals, including  man  ;  of  geological  strata  and  their 


142  THE   SCIENTIFIC   METHOD 

contents,  whicli  no  late  scientist  has  proved  for  him- 
self or  knows  of  except  upon  the  testimony  of 
otliers.  There  are  myriads  of  books  in  the  various 
departments  of  knowledge  which  one  has  not  exam- 
ined, who  accepts  their  results  upon  trust,  that  mir- 
acle of  human  confidence.  Even  the  reports  of  re- 
cent observers  and  explorers  in  the  flora  and  fauna 
of  our  world  are  read  by  few.  Agnostics  should  be 
indeed  modest,  for  they  know  but  little,  and  take 
most  of  that  little  upon  trust  in  the  truth  of  what  is 
told  them.  The  Christian  goes  perhaps  a  step 
farther,  but  carefully  sifts  all  testimony  touching  the 
facts  of  revelation  and  the  so-called  doctrines  of  re- 
ligion. And  why  not  ?  Is  not  the  testimony  to 
the  truth  of  Holy  Scripture  as  credible  and  trust- 
worthy as  that  of  Cuvier  or  Lyell,  of  Audubon  or 
Linnaeus,  of  Darwin  or  Dawson  ?  In  the  world  of 
nature,  as  of  revelation,  man  ever  depends  upon  the 
testimony  of  man.  So  it  is  time  to  have  done  with 
lauding  the  certainties  of  science  above  the  so-called 
guesses  of  Revelation.  Both  rest  on  testimony. 
And  the  testimony  of  Christians  is  no  more  fanati- 
cal than  that  of  scientists.  Anaxagoras  and  Aris- 
totle were  as  fanatical  as  St.  James  and  St.  Mark. 

3.  However  poor  a  handling  the  clergy  make  of 
certain  questions  related  to  theology,  their  training 
for  centuries  was  such  as  to  fit  them  to  be  the  lead- 
ers and  formers  of  society,  of  the  literature  and  of 
the  higher  life  of  the  nations.  Not  only  did  they 
tame  savage  men  into  reason  and  culture,  they  also 


APPLIED   TO   THE   BIBLE.  143 

converted  and  transformed  tliem  ;  they  nuiUipHed 
copies  of  the  ancient  writings  and  of  Holy  Scripture, 
and  with  the  dawn  of  modern  life  tliey  supplied  the 
people  with  an  open  Bible  in  Germany,  England, 
France,  and  later  on  the  world  over.  Wickliffe, 
Tyndale,  and  other  translators  and  revisers  of  the 
Bible  formed  the  language  of  England  and  America. 

Indeed,  the  Church's  methods  in  her  search  after 
truth  have  long  been  the  same  as  those  pursued  in 
our  State  courts,  but  without  a  party  concerned  to 
suppress  important  facts.  Our  theological  semina- 
ries worthy  of  the  name  seek  for  the  facts  and 
origins  of  their  ecclesiastical  and  dogmatic  systems. 
Unlike  colleges  which  teach  Greek,  Eoman,  and 
other  ancient  hteratures  as  they  tind  them  in  cur- 
rent texts,  the  theologian  is  taught  and  required  to 
sift  his  text  and  the  authority  for  it,  as  well  as  its 
interpretation.  This  did  Lightfoot,  Westcott,  Elli- 
cott,  Cheyne,  etc.,  in  England  ;  Turner,  Briggs, 
Green,  Harper  in  America  ;  and  numbers  whom 
every  scholar  knows  on  the  European  continent. 
They  seek  for  the  right  text  to  interpret  as  well  as 
for  the  right  principles  of  interpretation. 

But  judging  from  recent  utterances  on  both  sides 
the  ocean,  one  might  suppose  that  the  Christian 
Church  had  not  ever  been  the  teacher  of  good  ethics, 
culture,  and  criticism  ;  that  she  had  not  led  in  the 
ways  of  learning  and  of  civilization.  She  founded 
the  colleges  of  the  old  world,  and  also  many  of  our 
land — Harvard,  Yale,  Columbia,  with  many  of  re- 


144  THE   SCIENTIFIC    METHOD 

cent  date,  whose  chairs  she  has  filled  with  Christian 
scholars.  From  Bede  to  Abelard  and  the  two 
Bacons,  Roger  and  Sir  Francis,  the  path  is  strewn 
with  the  works  of  Christian  writers — of  Caedmon 
aird  Lanfranc,  Anselm  and  Chaucer,  Gower,  Frois- 
sart  and  Mandeville,  Sir  T.  More  and  William 
Tjndale.  Even  Spenser,  Shakespeare,  and  Rare 
Ben  Jonson  received  inspiration  from  the  literature 
of  the  Church.  She  gave  lawyers  to  the  State  and 
judges  to  the  bench  ;  she  humbled  Henry  IV.,  of 
Germany,  and  Frederick,  the  Redbeard  ;  she  soft- 
ened the  asperity  of  barons,  incited  to  chivalry  and 
the  Crusades,  conquered  the  barbarians  who  tram- 
pled down  the  old  civilization  ;  and  when  Constanti- 
nople fell  to  the  Turks  she  received  and  provided 
for  her  exiled  scholars.  The  jSIew  World  was 
peopled  by  her  colonists,  who  copied  her  attain- 
ments in  life  and  in  arts,  as  well  as  in  science  and 
religion.  But  she  does  not  so  often  talk  about  what 
she  has  done  as  of  what  remains  to  be  done. 

Thus  she  illustrates  what  Bishop  Thompson  tersely 
says  in  his  Lectures  :  ''  The  beast  eats  the  phenom- 
ena, or  drinks  it,  and  thinks  no  more  about  it." 
So  she  follows  the  scientific  way  of  seeking  truth, 
she  absorbs  it,  inculcates  it  upon  others,  but  says 
little  about  it.  Even  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
she  inquires  what  and  where  it  is  before  she  ex- 
pounds it.  So  of  this  or  that  miracle,  at  the  Red 
Sea,  at  Gadara,  at  Olivet,  slie  first  certifies  to  the 
record,  and  then  accepts  and  teaches  it.     Now  one 


APPLIED  TO   THE   BIBLE.  145 

of  her  sons  devotes  his  studies  to  the  prophets,  now 
to  the  Gospels,  now  to  the  Epistles,  and  now  to  the 
primitive  records  of  mankind  and  the  early  Chris- 
tians. 

4.  Whether  St.  Paul's  writings  stimulate  and 
exalt  the  religious  sense  is  not  enough  for  the 
Church  to  know,  but  she  is  bound  to  know,  from 
reasonable  evidence  of  their  date,  style,  character, 
and  early  acceptance,  that  they  are  the  writings  of 
St.  Paul.  That  is  the  scientific  method.  So  of  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  John  and  of  the 
Fourth  Gospel. 

There  are  confessedly  some  old  Apocryphal  writ- 
ings which  are  true  as  history,  true  and  elevating  in 
etliic,  but  which  are  not  accounted  by  the  Church 
universal  as  inspired  ;  for  they  never  received  pro- 
phetic endorsement  and  attestation.  Hence,  despite 
their  quality,  they  are  not  included  in  the  canon  of 
Holy  Scripture. 

We  all  remember  the  recent  work  .of  the  revisers 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  ;  that  some  four- 
score scholars  were  long  engaged  in  deciding  upon 
their  text  and  its  proper  translation  into  modern 
English  ;  and  that  in  several  instances  they  elim- 
inated portions  of  the  text ;  for  example,  St.  John 
8  :  1-11  ;  1  Ep.  St.  John  5  :  Y-9  ;  the  Doxology 
to  the  Lord's  Prayer  following  St.  Matt.  (>  :  13, 
with  other  lesser  changes.  These  we  may  examine 
for  ourselves  and  judge  of  the  method  and  its  re- 
sult, while  we  assume  no  superior  learning.  A  text 
7 


146  THE   SCIENTIFIC   METHOD 

has  been  furnished  which  for  the  most  part  is  up  to 
modern  scholarship,  and  bears  the  test  of  Greek 
criticism. 

For  the  reasons  that  the  Church  allows  such 
emendation  of  canonical  Scripture,  she  rejects  the 
story  of  Augustine,  that  the  flesh  of  the  peacock 
never  decays,  for  w^hicli  Mr.  Burroughs  laughs  at 
the  saint.  But  to  hold  the  Church  responsible  for 
it  is  extremely  unjust. 

Since  the  Council  of  Nicsea,  the  assembled  Church 
has  never  promulgated  a  mere  opinion  as  a  doctrine 
of  salvation,  or  necessary  to  be  believed.  Kather 
has  she  inquired  in  the  true  scientific  v/ay,  What 
Was  taught  in  the  beginning  ?  How  did  the  early 
teachers  and  bishops  understand  the  question  ? 
What  is  the  teaching  of  Scripture  about  it  ?  Neither 
primitive  Christianity  nor  the  Orthodox  Christian- 
ity of  to-day  requires  men  to  believe  in  the  develop- 
ment of  doctrines  of  salvation.  These  were  revised 
and  authenticated  by  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles, 
and  they  may  not  be  added  to  or  diminished. 
Questions  of  polity  and  of  discipline  may  be  changed 
or  modified  to  suit  the  times,  but  the  whole  Church 
assembled  in  Council  has  no  power  to  change  doc- 
trines of  salvation. 

So  St.  Paul,  in  Gal.  1:8,'^  Though  we,  or  an 
angel  from  heaven,  should  preach  unto  you  any  gos- 
pel other  than  that  which  we  have  preached  unto 
you,  let  him  be  anathema  ;"  and  he  repeats  the 
curse  for  so  doing  in  the  next  verse.     The  doctrines 


APPLIED  TO   THE   BIBLE.  147 

of  salvation  were  given  at  the  first  ;  the  Church 
and  her  heralds  are  but  the  teachers  of  the  Glad 
Tidings,  which  never  change.  'No  law  of  reversion 
pertains  to  Christ,  but  He  enjoins  His  people  to  go 
on  unto  perfection  in  the  Faith  once  delivered  to 
them.  Ours  it  is  to  ask  what  was  tirst  taught  ;  how 
that  teaching  has  been  preserved  ;  and  whether  we 
now  have  trustworthy  records  of  it  ?  We  may  reject 
all  later  additions  and  insertions  to  the  Creed  of 
Christ  and  the  primitive  Church.  Such  is  the  sci- 
entific method  applied  to  theology  and  to  Christian 
history.  It  is  the  law  of  religious  phenomena 
whereby  we  may  weigh  the  spiritual  manifestations. 
5.  And  when  we  consider  intellectual  processes 
and  achievements,  what  becomes  of  our  science  ? 
"We  find  in  Macbeth  and  in  the  Comus  what  no 
previous  writer  of  our  tongue  had  led  us  to  expect, 
a  sort  of  literary  miracle.  There  is  a  touch  and  a 
fancy  quite  unexpected,  something  which  our  soul 
appropriates  as  well  as  our  mind.  It  is  immortal  as 
mind.  It  is  not  merely  the  words  we  read,  but  their 
deeper  meaning  disclosed  by  their  setting.  Yet 
there  was  nothing  in  the  times  and  the  unfold- 
ings  which  environed  Shakespeare  and  Milton  that 
would  naturally  produce  such  work.  In  other 
words,  their  work  was  not  expected  before  they  ex- 
emplified their  talents.  And  so  it  has  been  with  all 
great  achievements  of  the  mind.  The  material 
wonders  of  Morse  and  Edison  were  only  guessed  as 
possible  after  the  experiments  of  Frankhn  and  New- 


148  THE   SCIENTIFIC   METHOD 

ton  and  Francis  and  Roger  Bacon.  Chemistry  and 
physics  are  prophetic  of  mysterious  phenomena,  and 
miracle  is  merged  in  expectation.  In  the  material 
world  the  unexpected  rarely  happens.  We  have 
forecasts  of  the  weather,  and  of  this  or  that  discov- 
ery. But  none  of  these  discoverers  of  telephones 
and  continents  can  sing  like  the  Bard  of  Avon  and 
of  Paradise  Lost. 

So  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  there  is  purity 
unexcelled  and  nobility  of  sentiment  unsurpassed, 
which  uttered  in  that  age  and  in  that  '^  outlandish 
corner  of  Judsea' '  are  even  more  wonderful  than  the 
originality.  And  if  we  consider  it  a  Divine  proph- 
ecy of  the  ethics  which  shall  yet  prevail  on  this 
earth,  that  surely  makes  its  utterance  then  all  the 
more  wonderful.  To  be  smitten  on  the  one  cheek 
and  then  offer  the  other  to  the  smiter  is  a  prophecy 
of  conduct  which  concerns  the  smiter  as  well  as  the 
smitten.  For  it  suggests  a  principle  of  action  be- 
coming operative  among  men,  when  the  rude  hand 
of  a  smiter  shall  be  as  rare  a  surprise  as  it  now  is 
for  the  smitten  one  to  turn  the  other  cheek.  It  is 
there,  more  than  in  the  purity  and  nobility  of  the 
sentiment,  that  the  Divineness  lies  and  the  superi- 
ority of  the  Speaker  consists.  He,  with  all  the  hu- 
man odds  and  environment  against  Him,  then  ut- 
tered a  code  of  ethics  which  He  foresaw  would 
become  the  heritage  and  the  rule  of  mankind.  Mil- 
ton, in  the  ''  Comus,"  was  only  a  copyist  of  that 
prophecy.      To  the   sister   is   ascribed   that   deep- 


APPLIED  TO  THE   lilBLE.  149 

souled  purity,  that  true  unsuspicion  of  evil,  which 
makes  her  strong  against  a  thousand  dangers.  Of 
the  power  of  magic  she  had  no  experience  and  no 
fears,  but  her  more  knowing  brothers  were  all  the 
more  anxious  for  her  rescue.  They  feared  to  trust 
perfect,  but  inexperienced  innocence  with  a  con- 
summate trickster,  whose  strength  might  win  the 
mastery.  And  the  rule  is  safe  for  all  untried  char- 
acters. 

But  we  are  told  of  One  w^ho  did  resist  a  con- 
summate master  in  all  wicked  arts,  and  it  was  be- 
fore He  spoke  that  famous  Sermon.  Why  shall  we 
accept  His  discourses,  yet  discredit  His  encounters 
and  achievements  ?  What  quality  is  there  in  the 
utterance  which  was  not  in  the  Person  ?  Why  shall 
we  immortalize  His  words  while  we  refuse  immor- 
tality to  Him  and  to  His  Person  ?  But  it  is  be- 
coming the  fashion  to  deny  the  raising  of  Lazarus 
and  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord,  though  His  words 
of  comfort  to  the  sisters  are  admitted  to  be  genuine 
and  His  later  words  to  His  disciples  !  There  they 
were  to  end  except  in  memory  !  The  Soul  that 
bore  them,  the  minds  of  the  greatest  among  men — 
Moses,  Samuel,  Elijah,  Paul,  Plato,  Pascal— despite 
of  all  their  celestial  qualities,  are  to  end  like  the 
grass  or  like  the  grain  eaten  by  a  beast  !  And 
soul-powers  which  are  perfect  m  their  manifesta- 
tions to  the  last  moment  of  mortal  life  shall  cease 
like  the  herbage  of  the  field  when  cut  down  on  a 
sunny  day,  and  their  life  go  out  with  the  sunset  ! 


150  THE   SCIENTIFIC   METHOD 

And  this  because  of  our  ignorance,  and  that  we 
have  had  no  experience  of  continued  life  other  than 
in  our  posterity,  or  in  posthumous  reputation  ! 

6.  We  saw  how  the  mental  achievements  were 
unexpected  till  accomplished  by  those  whom  we  have 
named  ;  we  have  seen  and  known  how  much  in  life 
is  taken  upon  trust,  and  that  in  the  world  of  matter 
its  analysis,  nomenclature,  classifications,  are  also 
taken  upon  trust  in  what  others  have  done  in  their 
several  lines  of  work,  and  that  systems  and  sciences 
are  built  upon  them  from  Copernicus  to  Kepler, 
Kewton,  Darwin,  and  Spencer  ;  why  then  may  we 
not  proceed  in  similar  lines  of  discovery  in  the  realm 
of  mind  and  soul  and  God  ?  Why  shall  we  stumble 
at  "  Thy  brother  shall  rise  again,"  ''  Whosoever 
believeth  in  Me  shall  never  die  !"  since  upon  the 
uniform  testimony  of  all  who  knew  Him — five  hun- 
dred at  one  time — He  who  spoke  those  new  words 
did  actually  Himself  rise  again  ?  Every  recurrence 
of  Easter,  every  Lord's  day,  certifies  to  it  as  surely 
as  that  the  Passover  testifies  to  the  Exodus  !  The 
Hebrew  had  his  Passover  and  the  restoration  of  the 
son  of  the  widow  of  Zarephath  ;  but  the  Christian 
has  the  daughter  of  Jairns,  the  widow's  son  at 
Nain,  Brother  Lazarus,  Jesus  in  His  Resurrection 
and  Ascension,  all  testifying  to  the  power  and  truth 
of  Him  who  restored  life. 

As  we  receive  the  records  of  the  Old  Testament 
and  of  the  New  upon  testimony  which  has  been 
thoroughly  probed,  we  follow  the  scientific  method 


APPLIED   TO   THE   BIBLE.  151 

as  closely  as  any  scientist  who  accepts  the  findings 
and  classifications  of  others  ;  indeed,  more  so,  for 
the  Church  has  borne  constant  witness  to  what  she 
receiv^ed,  while  the  investigations  of  scientists  have 
been  but  occasional  and  sporadic.  They  have  no 
perpetual  witness  like  that  of  Hebrew  and  Chris- 
tian writers.  So  even  the  Resurrection  was  not 
a  new  experience.  The  new  thing  about  it  was 
that  one  should  come  to  life  and  rise  from  the  grave 
without  the  intervention  of  known  personal  agency. 
Other  revivifications  were  by  recognized  prophets 
like  Elijah,  Elisha,  and  by  Him  who,  after  raising 
others,  was  Himself  raised  from  the  grave.  Indeed, 
St.  Matthew  says  that  the  Pharisees  expected  this, 
and  by  the  order  of  Pilate  went  and  made  the  sep- 
ulchre sure,  sealing  the  stone  to  make  it  safe,  the 
guard  being  with  them  (27  :  63-66).  And  the 
earliest  Christian  art,  as  well  as  preaching,  agrees  in 
the  representation.  The  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ  was  expected,  and  had  been  foretold.  The 
only  question  for  us  is,  are  the  accounts  true  ? 

Hence,  we  also  ask,  are  the  accounts  true  that 
Columbus  discovered  any  part  of  America  and 
that  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  found  potatoes  and  tobacco 
here,  which  were  new  to  Europeans  ?  Or  shall  we 
take  those  accounts  like  the  humorous  story  of 
Charles  Lamb  of  how  the  Chinese  first  learned  of 
roast  pig  ?  He,  however,  does  not  deny  the  previ- 
ous existence  of  pigs.  Nor  did  Raleigh  deny  the 
existence  of  potatoes  and  tobacco.     But  they  were 


152  THE   SCIENTIFIC    METHOD 

a  new  experience  with  him.  Yet  a  '*  scientist" 
lately  dogmatizes  that,  *'  What  we  know,  we  know 
only  through  the  senses  !"  How,  then,  can  we 
know  who  discovered  America  ?  or  whether  Euro- 
peans first  learned  of  potatoes  and  tobacco  from  the 
American  Indians  ?  or  whether  Caesar  ever  con- 
quered Britain  ?  or  whether  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence was  written  by  those  who  are  said  to 
have  written  it  ?  How  does  the  scientist  know  the 
true  from  the  spurious  ?  whether  his  coffee  is  gen- 
uine or  adulterated  ?  whether  his  sugar  is  from  cane 
or  corn  ?  his  paper  made  of  cotton  or  linen,  and  his 
cloth  dyed  with  Indigo  or  Prussian  blue  ?  Scien- 
tists, like  Christians,  take  much  of  their  knowledge 
at  second  hand.  Both  largely  depend  upon  the 
testimony  of  others.  If  one  can  demonstrate  a 
fact,  the  other  feels  the  witness  to  what  he  be- 
lieves abiding  within  him  (1  Ep.  St.  John  3 
and  4). 

7.  Yet  he  is  not  all  heart  and  feeling  and  subjec- 
tivity. He  believes  in  objective  truths,  doctrines, 
and  revelations  which  were  duly  certified  to  in  old 
times  by  Abraham,  Moses,  Samuel,  Isaiah,  Ezra, 
by  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles.  The  testimony  has 
received  continuous  certifications  in  its  passage 
through  the  centuries.  This  is  but  the  alphabet  of 
our  religion.  All  theologians  of  repute  maintain 
the  necessity  of  belief  in  the  objective  revelation  of 
God  as  well  as  in  subjective  faith  in  Christ  ;  in  re- 
ligious truth  as  well  as  religious  feeling.     And  so  the 


APPLIED  TO   THE   BIBLE.  153 

witness  in  the  soul  of  a  devout  man  testifies  to  the 
power  of  a  great  Saviour.     Behold  tlie  martyrs  ! 

Thus,  he  who  decries  the  scientific  method  in 
Christians  exemplifies  his  ignorance  of  Christian 
training  in  the  principles  of  investigation.  We 
deprecate  all  mere  assumption  and  tlie  hlind  follow- 
ing of  a  theory.  We  require  proof  of  all  we  be- 
lieve. We  are  taught  to  '^  read,  mark,  learn,  and 
inwardly  digest  ;"  to  be  ever  ready  to  give  to  the 
inquirer  a  reason  for  our  belief  ;  to  prepare  in  time 
for  the  joys  and  unfoldings  of  eternity.  We  are  to 
k7iow  Him  in  whom  we  believe  ;  to  worship  an  ob- 
jective God  by  means  of  an  objective  agency  such 
as  we  find  in  the  Church. 

If  it  be  said  that  the  Church  has  no  oinginal  copy 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  she  was  the  living  witness  to  their  authenticity 
when  first  given  ;  so  that  for  the  Scriptures  of  the 
time  of  David  we  have  her  living  testimony  in  that 
age,  so  of  the  time  of  Hezekiah,  of  Jeremiah,  and 
of  Ezra  ;  men  of  learning  quite  competent  to  do  so 
passed  upon  the  Scriptures  of  that  time  ;  they  had 
the  living  testimony  of  those  who  recei  ved  the  writ- 
ten Word,  and  God  bore  them  witness. 

Then  of  the  Septuagint  at  the  close  of  the  third 
century  e.g.,  the  witnessing  Church  certified  to  the 
Sacred  Writings  and  accepted  a  translation  which 
to-day  asserts  itself,  and  is  becoming  more  and 
more  recognized  as  of  equal  authority  with  the  He- 
brew text.     Schrader  claims  that  the  more  exact 


154  THE   SCIENTIFIC    METHOD 

forms  of  Hebrew  words  and  names  are  those  pre- 
served in  the  Septiiagint  ;  and  he  cites  the  Assyrian 
Bin-hidri — i.e.,  Ben-hadra,  in  illustration.  (Schaff's 
Herzog,  sub  Benhadad.) 

When  we  study  the  era  of  Origen  and  of  Jerome, 
what  is  more  unscientific  than  to  say  that  these  men 
in  their  collation  and  translation  of  Hebrew  and 
Greek  Scriptures  did  not  have  access  to  trustworthy 
copies  of  the  ancient  text  ?  Why,  the  "  Hexapla"  of 
Origen  proves  the  contrary.  Athenagoras  and  Jus- 
tin Martyr  are  witnesses  of  the  fact.  Indeed,  Cuvier, 
Darwin,  and  Spencer  collate  supposed  facts  and 
specimens  to  elucidate  their  theories  which  have 
not  a  tenth  part  of  the  evidence  of  genuineness  as 
liave  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  text  which  we  receive 
to-day.  There  were  schools  of  the  prophets  from 
Samuel  to  Jeremiah  ;  while  from  Ezra  to  Matta- 
thias,  and  from  our  Lord  to  Jerome,  the  Church, 
Hebrew  and  Christian,  testiried  to  the  Sacred 
Books.  What  facts  of  science  or  of  history  are 
more  strongly  attested  ? 

One-half  of  the  three  years'  course  in  our  theo- 
loorical  seminaries  is  devoted  to  Biblical  and  Church 
history,  to  evidences  which  authenticate  the  genuine- 
ness and  credibility  of  the  Old  and  Kew  Testament, 
to  the  rules  and  principles  of  correct  interpretation. 
Some  knowledge  of  the  langnages  in  which  the  Bible 
was  written  is  required,  not  as  an  exercise  in  grammar 
and  syntax,  but  the  better  to  understand  that  Bible 
and  how  to  explain  it  correctly.     Christianity  has  a 


APPLIED    TO    THE    IJIBLE.  155 

history  as  well  as  offices,  functions,  and  usages  ;  and 
these  are  to  be  studied  along  with  the  Scriptures 
upon  which  it  is  founded.  Indeed,  how  to  reach  a 
correct  exegesis  of  Scripture  is  much  longer  dwelt 
upon  than  how  to  preach  to  the  people.  The 
method  is  scientific,  even  if  the  preaching  is  poor. 

However,  they  who  have  never  taken  such  a 
course  are  not  the  men  to  lecture  the  Church  on  how 
to  apply  the  scientific  method  to  exposition  of  the 
Bible.  It  cannot  be  done  in  a  sermon  of  a  Sunday. 
To  explain  the  creation  of  man  in  Genesis  by  the 
legend  of  Bel's  head  being  cut  off,  and  the  blood 
which  flowed  from  his  body  being  mixed  with  the 
earth  or  clay  from  which  the  first  man  was  God- 
made  and  endowed  with  the  Divine  life,  will  be 
easier  to  do  after  the  Chaldean  account  in  Genesis 
is  more  generally  known. 

So  of  Gen.  3  :  15.  The  old  Hindus  had  a  sav- 
iour and  serpent-killer  in  Krishna,  one  of  their 
Avatars,  who  '^  was  not  altogether  invulnerable,  for 
when  he  crushed  the  head  of  the  serpent  of  Jumna 
he  was  poisoned  in  the  heel,  ai  d  was  cured  only  by 
drinking  the  milk  of  the  goddess  Parvati  Durga,  the 
Warrior,  from  whose  eye  the  goddess  Kalli  sprang 
in  complete  armor,  like  Minerva  from  the  head  of 
Jupiter."  See  the  collocation  of  "Legends  of  a 
Kedeemer"  in  "  God  Enthroned  in  Kedemption," 
pp.  Y-37.  The  variations  in  the  legends  emphasize 
the  truth  of  our  Genesis,  while  the  legends  of  early 
belief  in   God    and   His    worship    overturn    Mr. 


156  THE   SCIENTIFIC   METHOD 

Spencer's  theory  of  the  evolution  of  religion  among 
men. 

In  all  phenomena,  spiritual  and  material,  objec- 
tive or  subjective,  the  first  inquiry  is  for  the  evi- 
dence upon  which  the  manifestations  depend.  As 
in  the  case  of  the  demoniac  of  Gadara,  we  are  told 
who  was  the  Healer,  what  was  the  disease,  and  tke 
subject  of  it.  We  have  Christ,  an  evil  spirit,  and 
the  man  possessed.  It  is  no  more  wonderful  than 
other  instances  of  healing,  except  that  an  evil  power 
or  entity  had  been  permitted  to  enter  and  possess  a 
man.  Is  this  any  more  marvellous  than  the  evil 
power,  called  the  serpent,  which  entered  Eden  and 
tempted  Mother  Eve  ?  Admit  the  first  recorded 
instance  of  Satanic  influence,  and  all  that  follow  are 
quite  explicable.  What  became  of  the  expelled 
demon  is  of  no  account.  He  was  not  destroyed, 
but  only  expelled  ;  and  not  being  disabled,  he  went 
and  took  possession  of  another,  or  rather  the  legion 
possessed  another  company  of  creatures.  The  his- 
tory of  the  occurrence,  if  it  stand  the  test  of  being 
a  truthful  record,  must  be  received  just  as  we  ac- 
cept any  other  narrative,  as,  for  example,  the  his- 
tory of  the  martyrs.  And  every  martyrdom  for 
Jesus  Christ  attests  His  life  and  works,  as  well  as 
the  faith  of  the  martyred  and  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity.  There  is  a  joint  testimony  of  the  ob- 
jective and  subjective. 

But  because  we  to-day  have  no  experience  of  such 
healing  and  such  martyrdom  we  ought  not  to  call 


APPLIED  TO  THE   BIBLE.  157 

it  unscientific  to  believe  tliey  ever  occurred  ;  for 
tliej  were  just  as  real  at  the  time  as  the  inscriptions 
on  Egyptian  tombs  and  the  tablets  of  Babylonia, 
which  were  long  buried  out  of  sight.  The  testi- 
mony of  primitive  man  and  of  contemporary  his- 
tory may  be  as  credible  as  what  we  see  about  us. 
And  there  are  universal  beliefs,  concepts,  records, 
legends  which,  because  they  are  so  universal,  must 
be  regarded  as  true.  Among  these  is  belief  in  evil 
spirits  in  Eden,  in  Babylon,  in  Egypt  and  Iran. 
Every  ancient  people  had  a  devil  of  some  sort. 
Every  ancient  literature  embodies  the  idea  as  a  fact, 
and  also  how  to  cure  its  hurt  and  evade  its  power. 
The  thought  is  no  more  prevalent  or  potent  in  Judaea 
than  in  Egypt,  in  Bactria,  and  in  Babylonia.  So  it 
becomes  as  clearly  the  affirmation  of  science  as  any- 
thing propounded  by  Darwin  or  H.  Spencer.  The 
attestations  of  universal  mankind  must  be  accepted 
as  scientific  and  in  the  highest  degree  credible.  In- 
deed, a  true  record  commands  belief.  See  chapter 
4,  touching  Legends  of  Evil  Spirits  in ""  God  in 
Creation." 

8.  Recent  discovery  of  ancient  facts  also  confirms 
the  fact  and  the  time  of  the  Sojourn  in  Egypt. 
Thus,  R.  S.  Poole  has  called  attention  to  Mr. 
Groffs  identification  of  two  names  of  prominence  in 
the  Pentateuch,  in  the  lists  of  Karnak,  among  the 
tribes  made  prisoners  at  Megiddo  by  Thothmes  III. 
— viz.,  Jacob-El  and  Joseph-El,  transposed  or  short- 
ened a  little.     Some  Hebrews  during  this  obscure 


158  THE   SCIENTIFIC    METHOD 

period  were  engaged  in  border  wars  and  even  in 
military  service  abroad.  This  is  consonant  with  the 
story  of  the  death  of  Ephraim's  sons  in  a  border 
foray  (1  Chron.  7  :  20,  21),  and  tlie  fact  that  the 
Israelites  marched  out  of  Egypt  in  battle  array  (Ex. 
13  :  18).  The  A7nerlcan  Register^  of  Paris,  re- 
marks of  the  report  to  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions 
and  Belles  Lettres,  after  a  thorongh  discussion  of 
the  subject,  that,  ''It  is  more  than  likely — and  in 
this  consists  the  great  value  of  this  new  version — 
that  in  this  fact  we  have  gained  a  clew  to  an  episode 
in  the  history  of  the  children  of  Israel  between  their 
arrival  in  Egypt  and  exodus." 

It  means  that  Thothmes  III.  in  his  wars  in  Pal- 
estine captured  two  persons  who  were  worshippers 
of  El,  and  were  probably  Hebrews.  One  bore  the 
name  Jacob,  the  other  Joseph,  named  after  those 
patriarchs.  They  were  carried  to  Egypt  by  Thoth- 
mes III.  in  the  sixteenth  century  b.c.  Our  Bible 
Jacob  was  already  dead,  and  Thothmes  may  have 
been  the  "  king  who  knew  not  Joseph,"  a  successor 
of  those  who  expelled  the  Hyksos. 

The  mummy  of  Sekenen-Ka,  who  had  been  mor- 
tally wounded  in  the  contest,  and  that  of  Rameses  II. 
were  found  in  a  vault  near  Thebes  in  1881.  And 
Bameses  II.  took  great  pains  to  erase  the  names  of 
Hyksos  and  other  kings  from  the  statues  at  Bubastis, 
and  to  inscribe  his  own  in  their  place.  Miss  Ed- 
wards shows  that  Joseph  served  under  two  kings. 
The  first  of  them  was  Apepi,  who  probably  killed 


APPLIED   TO    THE    IJIMLE.  159 

Sekenen-Ra.  Other  findings  disclose  that  the  Is- 
raeh'tes  were  held  in  servitude  after  the  expulsion 
of  the  shepherd  kings. 

M.  Naville,  as  the  result  of  Egyptian  explora- 
tion work,  in  1885  rehabilitated  old  Pithom,  its  thick 
walls  and  edifices  built  by  the  Israelites,  some  bricks 
with  straw  and  some  without  straw,  when  the  heavy 
hand  of  Kameses  II.  lay  hard  upon  them.  His 
name  is  the  oldest  of  any  one  found  in  this  border 
fort  and  store-city.  It  was  his  own  work,  and  not, 
as  at  Bubastis,  an  usurpation,  the  name  of  Rameses 
II.  inscribed  on  the  work  of  his  predecessors. 
Pithom,  indeed,  now  certifies  to  the  name  of  the 
Pharaoh  and  Exodus  to  the  people  who  built  it. 
Thus,  the  recovered  works  and  the  ancient  record 
supplement  each  other.  The  bricks  prove  their 
builders  and  when  they  wrought. 

In  Schrader's  '^  Cuneiform  Inscriptions,"  vol. 
2,  p.  147,  we  learn  that  Jonah  must  have  lived  and 
delivered  his  message  to  the  Ninevites  a  century 
before  Sargon  II.  built  Khorsabad.  Under  him 
l^ineveh  embraced  Kalah,  Rehoboth,  and  Dur- 
Sarrukin.  Including  these  towns,  the  circumference 
of  the  capital  would  be  about  ninety  miles,  or  more 
than  three  days'  journey  for  a  footman,  more  nearly 
five  days'  journey.  So  the  population,  including 
120,000  that  could  not  discern  between  right  and 
wrong,  or  under  eight  years  of  age,  is  not  overesti- 
mated in  Jonah  4  :  11  ;  nor  its  greatness  of  three 
days'  journey  round  it  in   3  :  3,  4.     Our  scientific 


160  THE   SCIEJ^TIFIC   METHOD 

method  confirms  the  text.  We  find  ilUistrations  in 
Egypt,  Assyria,  Babylon,  and  India  of  the  historical 
and  prophetical  portions  of  Scripture. 

We  have  to  deal  with  matters  far  more  tangible 
than  sentiment,  feelings,  and  emotions ;  we  have  dog- 
matic formulas,  historical  records,  and  a  God-given 
Revelation  to  prove  and  illustrate.  Consideration 
of  comparative  religion  is  quite  young,  but  it  must 
receive  attention,  and  so  of  different  forms  of  Chris- 
tianity. What  is  the  effect  of  dogma  in  Scotland 
and  in  Italy  ?  What  is  the  outcome  of  Creed  or 
the  want  of  Creed  in  America  ?  Where  there  is  a 
blending  of  Creed  with  Conduct  are  the  people 
more  soundly  Christian  in  faith  and  works  ?  What 
is  the  relation  between  doing  the  will  and  knowing 
the  doctrine  ? 

9.  How  can  we  meet  the  statement  that  '^  the 
Hesurrection  is  a  myth  which  is  kept  alive  because 
mankind  have  such  a  profound  interest  in  believ- 
ing it  ?  "  Thus,  for  example  :  The  Resurrection  is 
but  the  authentication  by  Jesus  Christ  of  life  with- 
.out  the  body,  in  which  men  have  believed  ever  since 
fossil  men  provided  an  eternal  habitation  for  their 
dead,  and  placed  amulets  in  the  skulls  of  the  de- 
ceased in  order  to  secure  happiness  and  exemption 
from  evil  in  the  disembodied  state  ;  in  which  men 
showed  their  belief  by  the  judgment  scenes  of 
Amenti  in  Egypt,  in  the  Realm  of  Allat,  and  Life 
Eternal  in  the  land  of  the  silver  sky  of  Babylonia, 
and   in    various  legends  touching  immortality  ;  all 


APPLIED   TO   THE    BIBLE.  101 

which  are  unfolded  in  "  God  in  Creation"  and  in 
*' Bible  Growth  and  Religion."  It  was  believed 
before  Abraham  lived  or  the  Lord  arose,  before 
St.  Paul  preached  it,  or  Athenagoras  was  converted 
to  it,  or  Justin  Martyr  died  for  it  ;  and  it  has  be- 
come the  accepted  belief  of  many  who  had  been  un- 
believers, from  the  first  to  the  nineteenth  century. 

But  this  should  not  prevent  a  scientific  searching 
for  the  facts  of  history  and  the  phenomena  of  tlie 
Spirit  of  God,  so  that  others  may  know  why  Chris- 
tians to-day  believe  in  the  llesurrection  of  their 
Lord,  and  that  His  followers  eighteen  hundred  years 
ago  so  believed.  That  we  now  have  no  experience 
of  such  events  is  really  no  more  oppugnant  to  the 
facts  than,  because  continents  are  not  now  discov- 
ered and  Britain  is  not  now  conquered,  therefore 
the  story  of  Columbus  and  of  Julius  Caesar  is  false  ! 
Yet  doubters  of  old  came  to  believe  in  it.  As  well 
might  the  Indian  deny  salt  and  sugar  to  be  in  use  any- 
where before  Europeans  brought  them  to  his  notice. 
As  well  might  the  East  Indian  prince  deny  the 
veracity  of  the  traveller  who  told  him  that  in  his 
country  the  water  became  so  hard  in  winter  that 
men  walked  on  it  and  so  crossed  over  rivers  !  Pre- 
cisely so  is  it  with  them  who  "  know  only  what  they 
know  through  the  senses."  The  senses,  indeed, 
disclose  only  a  small  part  of  human  knowledge. 

10.  Moreover,  may  we  not  trust  to  our  intuitions 
and  soul  perceptions  as  well  as  to  what  we  know 
through    our  sense  perceptions  ?     So  that  when  we 


16-^  THE  SCIENTIFIC   METHOD 

have  done  with  glaciers  and  moths,  protoplasm  and 
materialistic  studies,  with  all  other  human  culture, 
learning  and  proving  all  that  we  can  ever  learn  and 
prove,  we  may  have  the  assurance  not  only  of  rest, 
but  of  blessedness.  For  seeds  die  to  live  again  in 
plant  and  flower  ;  from  dying  life  to  springing  life 
is  the  law  of  the  things  we  see  about  us.  Nature 
does  not  disappoint  proper  expectations.  Slie  is  no 
more  cruel  than  ^ha  is  kind  :  she  is  Nature. 

Why,  then,  shall  the  minds  she  has  matured  and 
ripened,  the  souls  slie  has  filled  with  thoughts  of  God 
and  longings  for  immortality,  have  no  continuance  in 
that  environment  where  they  can  best  unfold  their 
possibilities  ?  More  surely  than  the  boyhood  of 
Shakespeare  and  Milton  prophesied  of  their  future 
achievements  does  the  spirit  of  a  thoughtful  man 
prophesy  of  the  opportunities  which  shall  hereafter 
be  afforded  him. 

Neither  the  be-all  nor  the  end-all  is  here  and  now 
for  any  man  of  aspiration  and  soul  growing  quali- 
ties. If  in  his  studies  of  things  and  of  life,  of  suns 
and  stars,  he  also  studies  soul  life  and  spiritual  be- 
ing, he  will  come  to  know  what  soul  life  is,  and  that 
there  is  for  him  a  nevxr -ending  life  with  One  who 
Himself  rose  from  the  dead.  Because  He  liv^es, 
shall  all  who  believe  in  Him  live  also.  But  how 
can  these  things  be  ?  Yes,  how  can  you  color  an 
apple  or  perfume  a  rose  ?  Why  is  your  child's  eye 
blue  when  your  own  is  brown  ?  Why  is  ice  formed 
in  winter  and  the  sheep  shorn  every  spring  \     Be- 


APPLIED   TO   THE    BIBLE.  163 

cause  it  is  accordinor  to  the  law  of  tlieir  beino^.  So 
it  is  according  to  the  hiw  of  being  a  Christian  that 
he  sliall  live  forevermore  with  the  Lord  who  ran- 
somed him  from  death.  lie  is  the  Resurrection 
and  the  life  for  all  believers.  His  ways  are  from 
everlasting  to  everlasting.  All  who  hunger  and 
thirst  for  immortality  shall  find  it  in  Ilim.  His 
was  an  opened  grave  !  There  was  a  vision  of  An- 
gels !  They  were  seen  in  Eden  ;  they  were  seen 
by  Abraham  and  Jacob  ;  they  appeared  in  the  Gar- 
den, and  again  at  Olivet.  Is  not  that  sufficient  at- 
testation ?  Doubt  not  llis  power.  It  is  the  law  of 
spiritual  phenomena.  Spiritual  life  is  dependent 
upon  the  Giver  of  it.  Because  He  lives,  you  shall 
live  also. 

Thus  have  we  sought  to  illustrate  how  the  scien- 
tific method  may  be  applied  to  the  study  of  the 
Bible,  to  the  doctrines  of  salvation,  and  the  desire 
for  immortality.  Said  Victor  Hugo  :  "  Winter  is 
on  my  head  and  eternal  spring  is  within  my  heart. 
The  violets  and  the  roses  are  beautiful  as  ever. 
The  fragrance  finds  capacity  of  enjoyment.  The 
grave  is  but  a  thoroughfare  ;  it  closes  with  the  sun- 
set and  opens  with  the  dawn."     Says  another  poet  : 

"  Every  noblest  aspiration 
Is  God's  angel,  undefiled. 
And  in  everj^  '  0  my  Father  ! ' 
Slumbers  deep  a  '  Here,  my  child  ! '  " 

Thus  there  is  an  eternal  tendency  in  men  to  de- 


164  THE   SCIENTIFIC   METHOD 

sire  and  pray  for  admittance  to  that  abode  where 
life  "  immortal  blooms." 

To  see  that  1  have  not  overstated  the  assumptions 
and  dependence  of  science,  the  reader  may  compare 
Professor  J.  T.  Huxley  on  "  The  Advance  of  Sci- 
ence the  last  Half  Century."  On  pnge  34  he  says, 
'^  Any  one  who  is  practically  acquainted  with  scien- 
tific work  is  aware  that  those  who  refuse  to  go  be- 
yond fact  rarely  get  as  far  as  fact  ;  and  any  one 
who  has  studied  the  history  of  science  knows  that 
almost  every  great  step  therein  has  been  made  by 
the  '  anticipation  of  nature' — that  is,  by  the  inven- 
tion of  hypotheses  w^iich,  though  verifiable,  often 
had  very  little  foundation  to  start  with,  and  turned 
out  wholly  erroneous  in  the  long  run." 

Mr.  Huxley  illustrates  this  by  the  guesses  of 
astronomy,  of  which  Kepler's  was  the  wildest ;  by 
several  hypotheses  of  Newton's  ;  for  observation 
cannot  go  beyond  the  limit  of  our  faculties  ;  while 
even  within  those  limits  we  cannot  be  certain  that 
any  observation  is  absolutely  exact  and  exhaustive. 
And  our  observation  at  one  time  may  prove  untrue 
when  our  powers,  directly  or  indirectly,  are  en- 
larged. 

Kepler's  assumption  that  the  planets  moved  in 
ellipses  was  only  an  approximate  truth  ;  for  as  a 
fact,  the  centre  of  gravity  of  a  planet  describes 
neither  an  ellipse  nor  any  other  simple  curve,  but  an 
immensely  complicated  undulating  line.     It  may  be 


APPLIED  TO  THE   BIBLE.  165 

doubted  whether  any  generah'zation  based  upon 
physical  data  is  absolutely  true.  The  invention  of 
verifiable  hypotheses  is  not  only  permissible,  but  is 
one,  of  the  conditions  of  progress  (pp.  35  -38),  for 
Mr.  Huxley  knows  through  the  senses,  and  through 
guesses  and  assumptions  !  Beyond  that  even  meta- 
physical theology  does  not  venture. 

In  the  ideas  and  definitions  of  matter,  atomic, 
molecular,  cosmic  ;  of  force  and  motion,  he  shows 
it  is  questionable  whether  science  to-day  has  much 
advanced  beyond  that  of  Aristotle  twenty-three 
centuries  ago.  We  may  describe  our  65  to  (SS  rec- 
ognized "  elements,"  but  whether  they  all  run  into 
atoms  or  ether,  into  molecules  or  gases  cannot  be 
determined  !  The  name  ''  New  Chemistry"  is  very 
significant  (pp.  40-62).  We  have  also  "  New  As- 
tronomy" and  ^'  New  Physics"  after  five  thousand 
years'    study  and  observation  ! 

Modern  protoplasm  does  not  prove  the  assumption 
of  "  spontaneous  generation  ;"  for  it  "  has  utterly 
broken  down  in  every  case  which  has  been  properly 
tested.  Yet  belief  in  it  was  accepted  by  all  philos- 
ophers down  to  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  Redi  shook  it  to  its  foundations  ; 
Schwann  and  others  proved  it  to  be  imtrust worthy 
just  fifty  years  ago"  (pp.  118,  119). 

Thus  this  corypheus  of  modern  science  guesses 
and  assumes  as  true  a  thomandfold  more  than  a 
dozen  orthodox  expositors  of  the  Bible.  He  and 
they  alike  depend  upoti  testimony. 


166  THE   SCIENTIFIC   METHOD 

But  while  Professor  Huxley  denies  the  claims  of 
Mr.  Burroughs,  he,  in  a  recent  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury^ shows  himself  as  reckless  of  historic  testimony 
as  he  is  daring  in  assumptions  for  science.  He  fails 
to  see  that  w^iether  the  Canon  of  St.  Paul's  in  1890 
agrees  with  the  Canon  of  St.  Paul's  thirty  years 
before  it  does  not  affect  the  now  historical  fact  of 
the  literary  attainments  of  Babylonians  and  Egyp- 
tians 2500  to  3000  years  b.c,  nor  of  the  Bible 
patriarchs  2000  to  1500  b.c.  So,  his  scorn  of  an- 
cient legends  in  Babylon  and  Egypt  will  not  avail 
to  minimize  the  *^  stories"  of  Genesis.  For  they 
are  as  well  founded  as  his  guesses  of  science. 

lf24-2  +  4:=  8  in  science,  why  do  they  not 
equal  the  same  in  history  ?  Our  religion  rests  upon 
the  testimony  of  patriarchs  and  prophets  and  na- 
tional records  during  two  thousand  years,  and  of  at 
least  one  million  other  Hebrews  during  fifteen  hun- 
dred years  ;  of  Jesus  and  His  apostles  and  the  first 
century  Christians.  Now,  if  we  may  not  believe 
their  testimony  as  handed  down  through  those  ages, 
neither  may  we  believe  any  allegation  of  science  or 
of  secular  history  during  those  ages,  nor  anything 
which  Professor  Huxley  alleges  of  the  ancient 
philosophers  ;  for  their  testimony  is  no  more  credi- 
ble than  that  of  Hebrew  and  Christian  religionists. 

Since  his  "  Half  Century"  essay  in  1887  we  are 
quite  prepared  for  any  historical  assumptions  or  de- 
nials in  another  essay  in  the  middle  of  1890.  He 
appears  not  to  know  that  the  demonstrations  of  his- 


APPLIED   TO   THE   BIBLE.  167 

torj  require  lis  to  accept  as  true  as  any  science  the 
records  of  Babylonia  and  Egypt  in  the  third  millen- 
nium B.C.,  and  of  the  Bible  patriarchs  in  the  second 
Tnillenniiim  B.C.  And  he  probably  discerns  the 
sophistry  of  his  own  attempt  to  make  the  Bible  re- 
sponsible for  the  miscalculations  of  biblical  chronol- 
ogists  !  It  nowhere  says,  Now  the  Flood  occurred 
1600  years  after  the  creation  of  the  World  ! 

The  Independent  of  August  28th,  1890,  prints  a 
letter  from  Prof.  A.  H.  Sayce,  a  short  extract  from 
which  must  end  this  chapter  : 

**  The  discoveries  made  by  Mr.  Petrie  prove  that  in  Palestine, 
as  in  Egypt  and  Assyria,  there  are  monuments  of  the  past  hid- 
den beneath  the  soil  which  go  back  not  only  to  the  age  of  the 
Kings,  but  even  to  that  older  Canaanitish  period  which  pre- 
ceded the  invasion  of  the  Israelites.  Among  the  cuneiform 
tablets  found  at  Tel  el-Amarna,  in  Egypt,  are  dispatches  from 
the  Governor  of  Lachish  to  the  Egyptian  monarch.  The  dis- 
patches imply  that  there  was  an  Archive-chamber  in  which 
their  duplicates  and  the  answers  to  them  were  preserved.  It 
is  more  than  possible  that  the  Archive-chamber  with  its  pre- 
cious contents  may  still  be  lying  within  the  walls  discovered  by 
Mr.  Petrie,  awaiting  only  a  few  more  weeks  of  digging  to  be 
brought  to  light.  Inscriptions  and  sculptured  monuments  will 
yet  be  found  to  pour  floods  of  unexpected  light  upon  the  rec- 
ords of  the  Old  Testament." 


IV. 


ANCIENT    BABYLONIANS     AND     EGYP- 
TIANS  NOT  TOTEMISTS. 

As  in  recent  public  lectures  upon  Egypt  the 
speaker  asked  whether  totemisni  did  not  earl}^  exist 
in  the  land  of  the  hawk  and  the  crocodile,  which 
were  symbols  of  their  gods,  I  offer  a  few  facts  which 
may  suggest  that  such  could  not  be  so  in  primitive 
times.  Yet  very  early  in  history  misconceptions  of 
the  story  of  the  serpent  in  Eden  travelled  far  and 
wide,  and  led  to  its  adoration.  It  symbolized  the 
Deity.  Still,  in  Babylonia,  in  Egypt,  and  under 
the  Theocracy  of  the  Hebrews  there  ever  existed 
two  important  facts  of  a  character  opposed  to  to- 
temism  :  First,  the  monarchy  ;  and  second,  the  in- 
termarriage of  kindred  and  members  of  the  same 
tribe  or  clan.  Egyptians  even  killed  their  supposed 
totems,  which  are  often  confounded  with  religious 
symbols.  These  facts  are  opposed  to  totem  ism. 
Kings,  from  the  mythical  Osiris  to  Thothmes  II.,  in 
the  sixteenth  century  b.c,  and  much  later,  married 
their  sisters.  It  was  a  common  practice  among  the 
Pharaohs.     So   in  old   Chaldea  Abraham  married 


NOT  TOTEMISTS.  1G9 

his  half-sister,  which  serves  to  iUustrate  tlie  custom 
there  at  that  time  ;  while  Isaac  and  Jacob  married 
their  cousins.  This  practice  does  not  coexist  with 
totemism,  which  forbids  sucli  marriages.  (See 
**  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  art.  Totemism.) 

Nor  does  monarchy  coexist  with  totemism.  Yet 
from  the  earliest  times,  from  Osiris  to  Menes  and 
Sneferu,  kings  reigned  in  Egypt  ;  while  from  Nim- 
rod  to  Khammuragas  and  Sargon  1.  kings  reigned 
in  Babylonia.  Among  the  early  Hebrews  God  was 
their  King.  This  continued  from  Abraham  to  Saul 
and  David. 

Again,  before  historic  times,  the  myths  tell  us  of 
Horus,  who  speared  the  crocodile,  one  of  the  sup- 
posed early  totems  of  Egypt,  and  her  sculptures 
graphically  portray  him  in  the  act  of  spearing  a  ser- 
pent. Babylonian  legends  describe  Bel-Merodach 
as  fighting  against  the  old  dragon-totem  of  that 
country,  and  the  cylinders  vividly  represent  the 
fierce  combat.  Iranian  Bactria  had  her  Sosiosh, 
who  turned  evil  into  good,  who  slew  serpents  and 
scorpions,  and  wrought  redemption  for  her  people  ; 
while  the  Indian  Krishna  killed  the  huge  serpent  of 
Jumna.  See  chapter  1  of  ''  God  Enthroned  in  Re- 
demption. " 

Thus,  from  the  nature  of  the  case  and  the  op- 
pugnancy  between  rival  powers,  totemism  could  not 
coexist  with  monarchy  nor  with  intermarriage  be- 
tween kinsmen  and  clansmen.  If  the  totem  were 
anything  more  than  a  symbol  or  ensign,  it  could 


170  BABYLONIANS    AND   EGYPTIANS 

not  be  tolerated  within  a  monarchy,  for  the  king 
was  superior  to  all  other  earthly  powers.  His  su- 
perior was  the  celestial  Being  known  as  God- Amun, 
God  Osiris,  God-Ra,  God-Il,  or  God-Merodach, 
whose  worship  excluded  all  place  and  scope  for  dei- 
fied totems.  And  the  custom  of  intermarriage  be- 
tween the  tribes  and  clans  of  a  kingdom  largely  neg- 
atived and  precluded  the  possible  union  of  rival 
gods.  The  totemism  found  among  our  Indians  and 
others  in  modern  times  is  far  too  late  to  illustrate 
the  worship  of  totems  in  ancient  Babylonia  and  in 
Egypt. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Thothmes  III.,  of 
the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  e.g.,  was  the 
maker  of  the  obelisk  which  is  now  in  our  Central 
Park.  He  was  a  famous  Pharaoh  of  one  of  the 
best  defined  periods  of  Egyptian  history.  Yet, 
singularly  enough,  Mr.  H.  Spencer  cites  him  to  il- 
lustrate his  theory  of  ancestor-worship,  and  connects 
him  quite  closely  with  the  builder  of  the  Great 
Pyramid,  which  was  a  thousand  years  before  him, 
even  according  to  the  shorter  chronology — i.e.^  of 
the  fourth  dynasty. 

The  Egyptian  poet-laureate  makes  the  god  Am- 
nion to  address  Thothmes  III.  as  "  the  blazing  sun, 
shining  like  a  god  before  the  enemy  ;  as  a  young 
bull  which  none  can  approach  ;  as  a  crocodile,  ter- 
rible in  the  waters,  not  to  be  encountered  ;  as  a 
lion,  fierce  of  eye,  who  leaves  his  den  and  stalks 
through  the  valley  ;  as  the  hovering  hawk  which 


NOT  TOTfiMISTS.  171 

seizes  whatever  pleases  him  ;  and  as  tlie  jackal  of 
the  South,  who  prowls  through  the  land."  Mr. 
Spencer  adds  the  epithet  of  an  older  translation, 
calling  him  '^  the  valiant  bull  Horus,  reigning  over 
the  fhebaid." 

1  fail  to  discover  ancestor  worship  or  any  form  of 
totemism  in  these  appellatives.  Thothmes  has  here 
seven  different  characters  attributed  to  him,  and  is 
addressed  by  the  names  of  five  supposed  totems  ; 
also  as  the  Sun  and  as  Horus  ;  the  last  two  having 
well-defined  positions  and  origins.  It  is  a  compar- 
ison which  contains  its  own  refutation. 

Moreover,  Hatasu,  the  sister  of  Thothmes  III., 
calls  herself  "  the  living  Horus,  abounding  in  divine 
gifts,  the  mistress  of  diadems,  rich  in  years  (she  was 
then  under  forty),  the  golden  Horus,  Queen  of 
Upper  and  Lower  Egypt,  daughter  of  the  Sun  (her 
father  was  Thothmes  I.),  consort  of  Ammon  (she  had 
married  her  own  brother,  Thothmes  II.).  She  also 
called  herself  "  the  daughter  of  Ammon,  dwelling 
in  his  heart,  and  living  forever  !"  The  self-adula- 
tion is  too  apparent  for  remark. 

The  royal  brother  and  sister  use  some  of  the  sarne 
titles  indifferently.  They  are  each  Horus,  the  liv- 
ing Horus,  or  the  golden  Horus,  or  the  valiant  bull 
Horus.  They  are  the  son  of  a  god,  and  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  god,  though  their  parents  (Thothmes  I.  and 
his  consort)  were  well  known.  Not  worshippers  of 
their  ancestors,  they  most  extravagantly  extol  them- 
selves by  means  of  their  acknowledged  deity.     The 


172  BABYLONIANS   AND   EGYPTIANS 

''  Queen  of  diadems  and  daughter  of  the  Sun"  was 
the  sister  of  him  who  is  styled  '^  crocodile,  hawk, 
bull,  lion,  jackal,"  all  by  the  same  rhapsodist. 
Not  a  word  of  prayer  is  uttered,  nor  sacrifice  offered, 
only  self-glorification,  in  Oriental  exuberance,  is 
expressed.  Truly,  may  we  not  say  that  the  builder 
of  our  New  York  obelisk  and  his  sister  Hatasu  are 
sufficient  answers  to  totemism  in  ancient  Egypt  ? 

While  they  adored  the  Sun-god  and  worshipped 
Ammon,  they  assuredly  did  not  worship  their  pro- 
genitors. Moreover,  the  earliest  Egyptian  kings 
speared  the  totem-crocodile,  and  the  earliest  Baby- 
lonian kings  hunted  the  lion,  while  the  monarchs 
of  both  regions  pursued  other  beasts  of  prey  and 
attributed  to  themselves  the  striking  characteristics 
of  those  animals.  So  we  say  **  Kichard  of  the 
Lion's  Heart,"  the  "  Black"  Prince,  ''  Rough  and 
Ready,"  '^  Stonewall"  Jackson,  etc.  The  reader 
will  find  much  condensed  information  touching  an- 
cient religions  in  '*  God  Enthroned  in  Redemption" 
and  in  ''  Bible  Growth  and  Religion."  "  Records 
of  the  Past"  and  Brugsch's  "Egypt"  give  the 
laudation  of  Thothmes  III. 

Moreover,  the  Sabeans  of  Arabia,  the  rise'  of 
whose  kingdom  Hommel  puts  at  about  900  e.g., 
worshipped  the  sun,  and  also  Sin,  the  moon-god,  as 
well  as  Istar  or  Astarte.  One  of  the  tribes  wor- 
shipped the  sun  under  the  form  of  an  eagle,  another 
under  the  form  of  a  horse,  and  a  third  tribe  under 
the  form  of  a  lion.     This  was  a  thouBand  years  after 


NOT  TOTEMISTS.  173 

Abraham,  and  discloses  the  development  of  reh'g- 
ioiis  worship  in  a  direction  very  different  from  that 
claimed  by  totemists  and  evolutionists.  But  we  are 
told  that  "  Jewish  influence  made  itself  felt  in  the 
future  birthplace  of  Mahomet,  and  introduced 
those  ideas  and  beliefs  which  subsequently  had  so 
profound  an  effect  upon  the  birth  of  Islam  "  {Old 
and  New  Testament  Student  for  March,  1890). 
Yet  that  was  not  till  Christianity  had  long  influ- 
enced Jewism.  The  actual  course  was  from  the  re- 
ligion of  Abraham  to  that  of  ninth  century  b.c.  to- 
temism,  thence  to  Jewism  as  influenced  by  Chris- 
tianity at  the  rise  of  the  prophet  of  Arabia,  in 
622  A.D. 

Professor  W.  Eobertson  Smith,  in  his  ''  Eeligion 
of  the  Semites,"  may  deceive  himself  and  his  read- 
ers into  supposing  that  the  Arabians  are  fair  illus- 
trations of  a  theory  of  totemism  and  the  evolution 
of  a  monotheistic  religion.  But  he  is  much  too  late 
and  fanciful  in  his  citations.  For  we  have  evidence 
that  two  or  three  thousand  years  before  his  Arabians 
appeared  in  that  country,  Babylonians  on  the  one 
side,  and  Egyptians  on  the  other,  took  possession 
of  it,  quarried  its  mines  and  its  hills,  inscribed  their 
names  on  the  rocks  of  the  Wady  Magharah,  and 
that  Egyptian  soldiers  worked  the  turquoise  mines 
of  Sinai  for  the  benefit  of  Sneferu  or  Soris,  the 
first  of  the  fourth  dynasty.  It  is  much  too  late  to 
turn  askance  from  the  evidences  of  a  civilization  on 
the  Nile  and  the  Euphrates  in  the  third,  and  even 


174  BABYLONIAI^S  AND   EGYPTIANS 

fourth  millennium  b.c.  It  is,  therefore,  a  prime 
necessity  for  Professor  Smith,  and  those  who  agree 
with  his  notions,  to  explain  how  contact  with  it  had 
no  effect  on  the  Arabians,  and  also  to  explain 
whence  came  those  Arabians  whom  he  cites  as  ex- 
emplars. It  were  indeed  easy  to  affirm  that  there 
were  no  such  Arabians  in  the  earliest  times,  and 
none  who  had  not  drifted  away  from  their  north- 
eastern or  southwestern  neighbors.  Arabia  itself 
was  not  then  peopled,  Abraham  was  not  born,  and 
his  sons  by  Keturah  had  not  possessed  that  coun- 
try. The  Bible  account  of  its  inhabitants  makes  all 
easy  to  understand  ;  but  to  put  a  savage  people 
there  without  touch  of  influence  from  Babylonians 
or  Egyptians  is  the  acme  of  assumption.  (See 
Sayce's  ^'Empires  of  the  East"  and  Rawlinson's 
"Egypt") 

China,  also,  which  was^^c>^M  by  emigrants />'<9m 
Babylonia,  in  2300  e.g.,  and  possessed  their  relig- 
ious cult,  has  degenerated  in  her  worship.  The 
latest  writer,  the  Rev.  George  Owen,  of  Pekin, 
gives,  m  the  Chronicle  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  the  following  graphic  account  of  the  dete- 
rioration of  the  religion  of  the  Chinese  :  ''  The  his- 
tory of  China  is  a  striking  instance  of  the  down- 
grade in  religion.  The  old  classics  of  China,  going 
back  to  the  time  of  Abraham,  show  a  wonderful 
knowledge  of  God.  There  are  passages  in  those 
classics  about  God  worthy  to  stand  side  by  side  with 
kindred  passages  in  the  Old  Testament.     The  fathers 


NOT  TOTEMISTS.  175 

and  foundei's  of  the  Chinese  race  appear  to  have 
been  monotheists.  They  believed  in  an  omnipotent, 
omniscient,  and  omnipresent  God,  tlie  moral  Gov- 
ernor of  the  world  and  the  impartial  Judge  of  man. 

^^  But  gradually  the  grand  conception  of  a  personal 
God  became  obscured.  Nature  worship  crept  in. 
Heaven  and  earth  were  deified,  and  God  was  con- 
founded with  the  material  heavens  and  the  powers 
of  nature.  Heaven  was  called  father  and  earth 
mother,  and  became 'China's  chief  god.  Then  the 
sun,  moon,  and  stars  were  personified  and  worship- 
ped. China  bowed  down  to  '  the  hosts  of  heaven.' 
The  great  mountains  and  rivers  were  also  deified 
and  placed  among  the  state  gods.  This  nature 
worship  continues  in  full  force  to  the  present  time. 
Nature  has  taken  the  place  of  God. 

^'  Polytheism  and  idolatry  followed.  From  the 
dawn  of  history  the  Chinese  worshipped  their  an- 
cestors, regarding  the  dead  as  in  some  sort  tutelary 
deities.  This  naturally  led  to  the  deification  and 
worship  of  deceased  heroes  and  benefactors,  till  the 
gods  of  China,  increasing  age  by  age,  became  legion. 
Her  well-stocked  pantheon  contains  gods  of  all  sorts 
and  sizes.  There  are  gods  of  heaven  and  earth  ; 
gods  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  ;  gods  of  the 
mountains,  seas,  and  rivers  ;  gods  of  fire,  war,  and 
pestilence,  wealth,  rank,  and  literature,  horses,  cows, 
and  insects. 

'*  But  the  degradation  did  not  stop  here.  The 
Chinese  sank  lower  still  and  became  demon  wor- 


176  BABYLONIANS  AND   EGYPTIANS 

shippers.  Charms — long  strips  of  paper  bearing 
cabalistic  characters  in  black,  green  and  yellow — 
hang  from  the  lintels  of  most  doors  to  protect  the 
house  against  evil  spirits.  Night  is  often  made  hid- 
eous and  sleep  impossible  by  tlie  firing  of  crackers 
to  frighten  away  the  demons.  Almost  every  village 
has  its  professional  exorcist  and  devil-catcher.  The 
fear  of  demons  is  the  bugbear  of  a  Chinaman's  life, 
and  much  of  his  worship  is  intended  to  appease 
their  wrath  and  propitiate  their  favor,  and  once  a 
year,  during  the  seventh  moon,  a  gigantic  image  of 
the  xievil  himself  is  carried  in  solenm  procession 
through  every  town  and  village,  followed  by  the 
populace,  feasted  and  worshipped. 

"  Animal  worship,  too,  is  rife.  In  some  parts 
of  North  China  certain  animals  are  more  worshipped 
than  the  most  popular  gods.  The  fame  of  even  the 
largest  temples  is  often  due  not  to  the  gods  they 
contain,  but  to  the  supposed  presence  of  a  fairy  fox, 
weasel,  snake,  hedgehog,  or  rat.  These  five  ani- 
mals are  believed  to  possess  the  secret  of  immortal- 
ity and  the  power  of  self -transformation,  and  to  ex- 
ercise great  infiuence  over  the  fortunes  of  men. 

*'  I  have  seen  crowds  of  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren worshipping  at  an  ordinary  fox-burrow,  and  I 
have  seen  one  of  the  great  gates  of  Pekin  thronged 
day  after  day  with  carriages  and  pedestrians  going 
to  worship  a  fairy  fox  supposed  to  have  been  seen 
outside  the  cit}''  walls.  Any  day  small  yellow 
handbills  may  be  seen  on  the  walls  and  boardings 


NOT  TOTE  MISTS.  177 

of  Pekin  assuring  the  people  that  '  prayer  to  the 
venerable  fairy  fox  is  certain  to  be  answered.'  " — 
Spirit  of  Missions  for  March,  1890. 

Here  we  have  the  descendants  of  Abraham  in 
Arabia  and  of  the  ancient  Babylonians  in  China 
testifying  against  modern  theories  of  the  evolution 
of  religion.  It  was  not  from  nature  worship  to 
Mosaism,  which  developed  into  Jewism,  which  de- 
veloped into  Christianity,  but  the  other  w^ay 
from  the  revealed  to  the  debased.  Arabia  and 
China  are  our  witnesses. 

The  mistake  of  evolutionists  of  religion  lies  in 
beginning  their  inquiries  at  too  late  a  period.  Here 
and  there  may  be  found  what  looks  like  totemism. 
But  it  was  not  so  in  the  earhest  ages.  For  then  men 
held  a  simple  belief  in  One  Being  to  be  worshipped. 
Later,  from  misunderstanding  about  the  Serpent  of 
Eden,  arose  animal- worship  and  totemism. 

Closely  related,  if  not  earlier,  was  the  worship 
of  Istar,  called  Nana  in  the  Accadian  texts,  Istar 
not  being  found  in  them.     The  first  centres  of  her 
worship  were  Erech  and  Accad.     She  was  called 
''  the  divine  Lady  of  Eden,"  ''  the  goddess  of  the 
tree  of  life,"   *^  the  goddess  of  the  Vine,"   etc., 
showing  that  she  was  Eve  deified.     Tammuz  is  said 
to  mean   '^  the  son  of  life,"    ^^  offspring,"    *' the 
only  son,"  etc.     And  he  was  invoked  as  a  shep- 
herd :  "  O  Tammnz,  shepherd  and  lord,  bridegroom 
of  Istar,  the  lady  of  heaven,  lord  of  Hades,  lord  of 
the  shepherd's  cot,"  etc.     The  poem  is  written  in 


178  BABYLONIANS   AND   EGYPTIANS 

the  artificial  dialect  -which  sprang  up  in  the  court 
of  Sargon  I.,  probably  emanating  from  the  city  of 
Accad.  So  Sayce  in  "  Hibbert  Lectures"  for  1887, 
pp.  232-66. 

The  many  allusions  to  life  in  Eden,  to  the  life  of 
Abel,  the  descent  to  Hades,  Abel's  character  as  a 
shepherd  and  l^eing  invoked  by  shepherds,  suggest 
that  ''  the  Lady  of  Eden  and  of  the  tree  of  life" 
was  Mother  Eve,  thus  early  deified,  and  that  the 
departed  one  for  whom  she  mourned  was  her  shep- 
herd son  Abel  or  Tammuz.  The  earliest  legends 
of  Istar  and  Tammuz  reach  back  to  primitive  times, 
and  seem  like  the  very  echoes  of  Eden.  So  of  ser- 
pent worship.  It  also  may  be  traced  to  the  serpent 
of  Eden. 

Mr.  H.  Spencer  draws  his  examples  from  the 
later  periods.  Thus,  in  his  ^'  Ecclesiastical  Institu- 
tions" (pp.  692-93),  he  sees  the  difliculty  that  sun 
worship  in  Egypt  creates  for  his  ''  derivation  of  all 
beliefs  from  ancestor  worship,"  and  so  tries  to  ex- 
plain away  sun  worship  and  the  belief  that  he  ever 
had  been  ruler  over  Egypt  !  Whereas,  the  early 
legend  of  Osiris  can  only  be  thus  accounted  for. 
A  page  of  special  pleading,  with  a  long  note  to  con- 
vince '^  theologians  and  mythologists,"  will  not 
change  the  fact  that  in  Egypt  sun  worship  preceded 
ancestor  worship  ;  for  the  sun  represented  the  high- 
est beneficence  in  nature.  Osiris,  as  Sun-god,  was 
before  Osiris  as  Judge  of  Amenti.  And  kings 
were  first  deified  only  because  they  were  the  rep  re- 


NOT  TOTEMISTS.  179 

sentatives  of  the  Divine  order,  power,  and  good- 
ness. Hence  adoration  of  kings  preceded  adoration 
of  ancestors.  In  primitive  history  and  Old  Testa- 
ment exposition  the  date  determines  the  environ- 
ment and  often  expounds  tlie  text.  Hymns  to 
Amen-Ra  and  the  Nile  are  of  ancient  date  ;  festal 
dirges  belong  to  the  eleventh  dynasty  ;  while,  ac- 
cording to  Renouf  s  "  Hibbert  Lectures,"  the  old- 
est piece  of  literature  in  the  world  is  a  "  Hymn  to 
the  Maker  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  Who  is  the  Self- 
existent  One."  Compare  "  God  in  Creation," 
chapter  3,  and  chapter  1  of  this  book. 


MR.  GLADSTONE  ON  HEBREW  AND 
GREEK  ETHICS. 

(Reprinted  from  The  Standard  and  The  Church.) 

As  St.  Paul  rejoiced  that  Christ  was  preached, 
though  not  quite  according  to  his  method,  so  I  re- 
joice that  the  Rock  of  Scripture  is  defended,  even 
though  imperfectly.  Mr.  Gladstone  has  succeeded 
in  the  breadth  of  his  view  and  in  stating  points 
which  should  satisfy  the  reader  not  only  as  to  the 
honesty  of  his  plea,  but  that  the  subject  is  itself 
worthy  of  all  his  conceded  ability.  The  homogene- 
ity of  the  Old  Testament,  both  as  to  matter  and 
spirit,  and  its  preparative  character,  are  of  the  same 
trend  throughout.  It  was  also  for  the  Gentile  as 
well  as  for  the  Jew,  or,  as  stated  in  a  recent  publi- 
cation, for  ''  Jacob  and  Japheth." 

This  book  Mr.  Gladstone  seems  not  to  have  read, 
or  he  would  not  have  fallen  into  the  ethical  error  of 
his  third  paper,  in  rating  the  ethic  of  the  Hebrew 
as  lower  than  that  of  the  Achaian  Greeks.  When 
he  says  that  ''  the  conduct  of  the  suitors  of  Penel- 
ope and  the  actions  of  Paris  form  the  worst  exhi- 


HEBREW    AND   GREEK    ETHICS.  181 

bitions  of  human  nature  which  come  before  us  in 
the  Poems"  of  Homer,  he  overlooks  what  so  good 
a  Grecian  could  not  forget,  that  Penelope  herself 
was  a  striking  exception  to  the  prevailing  laxity  of 
her  day,  and  that  Ulysses,  her  husband,  was  ill- 
deserving  so  pure  a  wife.  He  also  overlooks,  what 
he  could  not  forget,  that  the  actions  of  Paris  re- 
ceived large  endorsement  from  his  father  and  family 
then  reigning  at  Troy,  for  they  received  him  and 
the  runaw^ay  wife  of  Menelaus,  and  refused  to  sur- 
render her  when  demanded. 

The  ^'  rape  of  Helen'-  is  a  misnomer  in  modern 
phrase.  She  eloped  voluntarily  with  her  husband's 
guest  ;  she  became  the  wife  of  Paris,  then  of  his 
brother  Deiphobus,  whom  she  afterward  betrayed 
in  order  to  reconcile  herself  to  her  first  husband. 
If  our  law  about  the  receiver  of  stolen  goods  being 
as  bad  as  the  thief  is  right,  the  conduct  of  the  ruling 
family  at  Troy  was  very  reprehensible,  for  which 
neither  the  noble  heroism  of  Hector,  nor  the  loyal 
love  of  Andromache,  nor  the  tears  of  Priam  could 
atone,  unless  accompanied  by  Testitution.  And 
when  the  Poet  introduces  Venus  to  rescue  Paris 
from  the  death-dealing  blows  of  Menelaus,  what  is 
that  but  to  sanction  the  adulterer's  crime  ? 

Knowing  all  this,  Mr.  Gladstone  should  have 
boldly  affirmed  the  lower  ethics  of  the  Greeks  as 
compared  with  the  Hebrews.  He  also  overlooks 
what  he  could  not  forget,  that  King  Agamenmon 
was    himself     an    offender    against    purity   when 


182  MR.    GLADSTONE. 

he  seized  the  beautiful  captive  Briseis,  who  had 
been  awarded  to  Achilles.  That  the  king  had  re- 
tilrned  the  daughter  of  the  priest  upon  her  father's 
demand  did  not  justify  him  in  seizing  the  prize  of 
his  ablest  general.  And  was  it  less  than  an  aveng- 
ing Nemesis  that  Agamemnon,  upon  returning  home 
from  the  war,  found  his  wife  an  adulteress  with 
^gysthus,  and  bj  them  was  murdered  ?  A  double 
crime  had  been  committed,  far  more  heinous  than 
that  of  David's,  who  had  not  thouglitof  taking  life 
in  his  amour  with  Bathsheba.  Cljtemnestra  was 
killed  for  her  crimes  by  her  own  son  !  Diomed, 
another  of  Homers  heroes,  returned  home  after  the 
fall  of  Troy,  but  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life  from 
his  adulterous  wife,  -^giale. 

Not  to  dwell  longer  upon  the  morality  of  Homer's 
people,  both  men  and  women,  what  shall  we  say  of 
the  Homeric  gods,  from  Jove  to  Yenus  ?  Was  not 
Olympus  the  rendezvous  of  impurity  ?  With  few 
exceptions  its  celestial  denizens  were  quite  obhvious 
to  the  observance  of  chastity.  There  is  not  a  pure 
boy  who  has  done  his  first  or  second  year  in  Greek 
and  Latin,  unless  the  course  is  greatly  changed  since 
I  was  a  youth,  who  is  not  disgusted  with  the  amours 
of  the  gods  and  goddesses  of  the  Homeric  Age. 

On  the  wrangling,  the  deceit  and  lying  of 
Homer's  gods,  I  must  refer  to  Professor  G.  H.  Gil- 
bert's last  chapter  of  his  '^  Poetry  of  Job,"  Chi- 
cago, 1889. 

Mr.  Gladstone  knows  that  in  the  historic  period, 


HEBREW   AND   GREEK    ETHICS.  183 

in  the  acme  of  Greek  culture  and  attainments,  the 
great  Pericles  lived  for  years  in  forbidden  relations 
with  Aspasia,  and  before  his  death  accepted  it  as  a 
marked  favor  that  the  Athenians  legitimatized  his 
two  bastard  boys  !  Yet  he  turns  askance  from  the 
nativity  of  Pharez  and  Rutli  !  Ptuth,  at  least,  was 
removed  by  ten  generations  from  the  sin  of  Lot, 
who  was  not  of  the  covenant  seed,  and  married  a 
Canaanitess  ;  while  Pharez  was  the  offspring  of  a 
single  desperate  adventure,  in  order  to  compel  the 
performance  of  lawful  duty  !  There  was  nothing 
in  them  at  all  parallel  with  the  sin  of  Agamemnon 
and  Helen,  Paris  and  Clytemnestra,  Ulysses  and 
^giale,  Jove  and  Venus  ! 

Moreover,  Mr.  Gladstone  cannot  forget  that  even 
Plato  is  an  offender  against  good  ethics.  He  allows 
men  a  community  of  women,  so  that  the  children 
do  not  know  their  own  fathers  I  Indeed  children 
were  to  be  brought  up  in  common,  without  filial  or 
parental  affection.  But  I  may  not  dwell  on  this, 
and  should  have  said  less  but  for  the  great  reputa- 
tion of  the  writer  and  the  recent  strong  deliverances 
of  Eev.  Dr.  Charles  H.  Parkhurst.  So  I  commend 
them  and  those  w^io  accept  their  puttings  to  pages 
71  to  81  of  "  Bible  Growth  and  Religion  from 
Abraham  to  Daniel." 

In  Egypt,  in  Canaan,  in  Philistia,  the  code  of 
ethics  practised  by  the  early  Hebrews  was  loftier 
and  purer  than  that  of  those  peoples.  It  was  to 
save  his  wife  from  dishonor  as  well  as  his  own  life 


134  MR.    GLADSTONE. 

that  Abraham  equivocated  with  Pharaoh,  and  with 
Abimelech  of  Gerar,  each  of  whom  sought  to  add 
Sarah  to  his  harem  !  And  at  the  time  of  his  equiv- 
ocation Abraham  was  but  a  young  Jehovist.  It 
was  more  than  twenty  years  before  he  received  the 
covenant  seal  of  circumcision  ;  while  it  was  true  that 
Sarah  was  his  half  sister,  who  to-day  if  introduced  to 
strangers  might  be  called  sister  Sarah.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone overlooks  this.  He  also  overlooks  how 
Dinah's  brothers  avenged  themselves  upon  Ham  or 
for  his  treatment  of  her.  Their  chastisement  of  him 
was  not  the  method  of  men  who  had  low  views  of 
purity  and  honor.  But  centuries  later  the  Philis- 
tines in  their  treatment  of  Samson  and  his  bride 
trampled  down  every  law  of  morality.  Yet  in  his 
frolics  and  his  revenges  Samson  personally  observed 
the  duty  of  good  neighborhood.  As  the  avenger 
of  Israel  upon  their  oppressors,  he  acted  officially. 
Compare  David's  treatment  of  Saul  and  consult 
the  reference  above  given,  also  pages  166  to  174. 


JACOB  AND  JAPHETH. 

Bible  Growth  from  Abraham  to  Daniel,  illustrated  by  Con- 
temporary History.     By  the  author  of    ''God  in 
Creation,"  etc.     i2mo,  cloth,  $1.25. 

The  Churchman  says : 
"  The  underlying  motive  of  the  book  seems  to  be  an  answer  to 
Kenan's  Iheories  of  Hebrew  ilistory.  It  certainly  succeeds  in  dealing 
with  the  French  skeptic's  reasonings  pretty  effectually.  It  shows  the 
absurdity  of  the  assumption  that  Jewish  religion  was  merely  self- 
originated,  the  outcome  of  special  Semitic  tendencies.  Apart  from  its 
purpose,  this  volume  is  well  worth  reading,  for  it  is  written  in  a  lively 
style,  displays  a  very  careful  study,  and  is  full  of  information  on  Biblical 
topics.  It  is  a  book  we  should  especially  commend  to  our  readers  as 
one  likely  to  guide  and  help  their  study  of  the  Bible.  It  takes  just  that 
large  and  comprehensive  view  which  is  opposed  to  the  mere  study  of 
special  and  isolated  verses,  and  gives  the  bearing  of  the  earlier  books 
of  the  Old  Testament  in  a  very  suggestive  and  thoughtful  way." 

The  New  York  Evangelist  says  : 
"The  author  of  'God  in  Creation'  and  of  'God  Enthroned  in 
Redemption,'  has  given  us  in  the  present  work  a  further  development 
of  his  fundamental  position,  which  may  be  briefly  characterized  as  based 
upon  that  which  Squire  Wendover  denied — the  value  of  the  testimony 
of  history  to  revelation.  A  thorough  and  searching  review  of  the  testi- 
mony establishes  very  completely  that  the  God  of  Israel  is  the  very  God 
of  the  whole  Earth,  The  author  is  familiar  with  the  utterances  of  the 
Higher  Criticism,  and  with  the  results  of  recent  researches  among  the 
cuneiform  documents  of  the  East,  and  he  argues  very  ably  and  convinc- 
ingly against  the  theory  of  late  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch  and  the 
Book  of  Daniel.  Good  scholarship,  fine  critical  acumen,  sound  judg- 
ment, a  reasonable  faith,  characterize  this  book." 

BY   THE   SAME   AUTHOR: 

God  in  Creation  and  in  Worship.    By  a  Clergyman. 
i2mo,  paper,   25  cents;    cloth,  50  cents. 

God  Enthroned  in  Redemption.    Part  Second  of  "God 
in  Creation."     The  answer  of  History  to  modern  theo- 
ries of  the    Evolution   of    Christianity.     i2mo,    cloth, 
50  cents. 
Both  parts  in  one  volume.      i2mo,  cloth,  $1,00. 


THOMAS  WHITTAKER, 

2,    AND    3    Bible     House,     New    York. 


DIABOLOLOGY, 


THE  PERSON  AND  KINGDOM  OF  SATAN. 


The  Bishop  Paddock  Lectures  for  1889. 

By  the  Rev.  Edward  H.  Jewett,  D.D.;  LL.D.     Second 
Edition.     i2mo,  cloth,  $1.50. 

Contents  :  Lecture  I. — Introductory.  Lecture  II. — Moral  Proba- 
tion. Lecture  III. — Satanic  Personality.  Lecture  IV. — Parsee  and 
Hebrew  Views  Compared.  Lecture  V. — Christ's  Teaching  with  Regard 
to  Evil  and  the  Evil  One.  Lecture  VI. — The  Sixth  Petition  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer. 

"  The  lectures  are  timely  and  able,  and  ought  to  have  a  strong  in- 
fluence in  counteracting  the  pernicious  and  baseless  modern  theory  that 
Satan  is  only  the  personification  of  a  mere  force.  The  author's  reason- 
ing is  unanswerable  ;  he  always  is  fair  to  opponents,  and  he  has  done 
good  and  abiding  service.  His  pages  are  especially  rich  in  researches 
and  comparisons  which  bring  out  the  differences  between  the  Hebrew 
and  the  Parsee,  or  other  beliefs  in  regard  to  Satan  and  evil  spirits  in 
general.  He  seems  to  quite  disprove  the  hypothesis  that  the  Jews  bor- 
rowed the  ideas  of  the  Persians  on  these  subjects." 

—  The  Congregationalist. 

"  He  has  carefully  and  critically  examined  the  various  views  and 
teachings  on  this  subject  to  bring  out  with  great  logical  clearness  the 
trftth  of  the  personality  of  Satan  as  taught  in  the  New  Testament  as 
well  as  in  the  rest  of  Holy  Scripture." — TAe  Churchman. 

"  The  author  deserves  credit  for  the  boldness  and  clearness  with 
which  his  investigation  is  conducted." — The    Virginia  Sem.   Magazine. 

"Although  written  primarily  for  the  scholarly  public,  the  style  is 
simple  and  the  language  clear  and  easily  comprehensible  by  the  ordinary 
reader." — The  Philadelphia  Press. 

"  This  volume  discusses,  in  a  thorough  and  scholarly  manner,  the 
question  of  the  personality  of  spirits,  good  and  evil,  their  probation, 
and  the  place  assigned  to  them  in  the  teachings  of  the  Bible." 

— National  Baptist. 


THOMAS   WHITTAKER, 
2   AND   3    Bible    House,   New  York. 


CANON   ROW'S  NEW  BOOK. 


CHRISTIAN  THEISM. 

A  Brief  and  Popular  Survey  of  the  Evidences  upon  which 
it  rests,  and  the  Objections  urged  against  it  considered  and 
refuted.     By  C.  A.  Row,  M.A.     Small  8vo,  cloth,  $1.75. 

"Prebendary  Row  has  attained  high  repute  by  his  previous  publi- 
cations, but  we  doubt  if  he  has  written  anything  more  likely  to  be  useful 
than  the  present  volume,  in  which  he  sets  forth  in  a  popular  form  and 
with  clearness  and  force  of  style  the  chief  reasons  on  which  Christian 
theistic  belief  is  founded.  It  is  avowedly  a  popular  argument,  adapted 
to  the  needs  of  the  multitude  of  people  who  justly  complain  that  many 
excellent  treatises  dealing  with  the  subject  are  '  over  their  heads.'  It 
also  claims  to  be  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  whole  question  as  it  is 
now  debated,  and  grapples  with  current  difficulties  and  objections  which, 
if  they  do  not  subvert  the  faith  of  many,  do  nevertheless  prevad  with 
some,  and  cause  widespread  disquiet  and  perplexity." 

—  The  Standard  of  the  Cross. 

"  Among  all  the  works  of  Prebendary  Row  in  the  general  line  of 
Apologetics  of  Christian  belief,  and  they  are  many,  this  will  be  the  most 
prominent  in  the  list,  the  most  thoroughly  and  lastingly  useful." 

—  I'^he  Livinjor  Church. 


BY    THE    SAME    AUTHOR. 

REASONS      FOR      BELIEVING      IN      CHRISTIANITY. 

Addressed  to  busy  people.      i2mo,  cloth,  gilt  top,  75  cents. 

CHRISTIAN  EVIDENCE  VIEWED  IN  RELATION  TO 
MODERN  THOUGHT.  Bampton  Lectures  for  1877.  Fourth 
Edition.     8vo,  cloth,  $3.75. 

A  MANUAL  OF  CHRISTIAN  EVIDENCES.  i6mo. 
cloth,  75  cents. 

FUTURE  RETRIBUTION,  VIEWED  IN  THE  LIGHT 
OF  REASON  AND  REVELATION.     Svo,  cloth,  $2  50. 


THOMAS   WHITTAKER, 

2    AND    3    Bible    House,    New    York. 


ON  ROMANISM, 


Three  articles  on  Romanism.     By  the  Rev,  John  Henry 
Hopkins,  S.T.D.      With  a  useful    Index.       i2mo,  cloth, 

$i.oo. 

"  Entertaining  reading,  without  a  dull  line." — The  Churchman. 

"  This  is  a  caustic,  severe  and  able  arraignment  of  Romanism." 

— Zion's  Herald, 

"  Dr.  Hopkins'  articles  form  a  strong  and  well  stated  summary  of 
the  question." — The  Critic. 

"An  amazingly  brilliant  book  is  this.  As  far  as  the  correspvondence 
with  and  strictures  on  Monsignor  Capel  go,  we  do  not  wonder  that  Dr. 
Hopkins  has  republished  the  whole  and  wound  it  up  with  a  snapper  in 
the  shape  of  his  elaborate  review  of  Dr.  Littledale  triumphant,  on  the 
'Petrine  Claims.*  To  outside  readers  who  are  not  too  much  enmeshed 
in  Roman  Catholic  sympathies  to  be  able  to  extract  any  kind  of  enjoy- 
ment from  the  routing  of  such  a  serene  example  of  prelatic  assumption 
as  Monsignor  Capel,  the  whole  will  be  as  good  as  a  play." — Independent. 

"  The  discussion  is  exceedingly  sharp  and  lays  bare  the  tremendous 
assumptions  of  the  papacy  in  regard  to  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  and 
the  sole  right  of  the  Roman  Church  to  the  name  Catholic. " 

—  The  Lutheran. 

"Dr.  Hopkins  is  bold  and  sharp,  fears  nothing,  and  is  especially 
pointed  in  detecting  weak  places  in  an  adversary." — Public  Opinion. 


THOMAS  WHITTAKER, 
2    AND    3    BiBi^E    House,    New    York. 


DATE  DUE 

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